When we grow impatient with God’s timing and decide to act without His leading or blessing, it always — eventually — turns out badly.
This is true when we’re impatient in the desire for a spouse.
This is true when we’re impatient in the desire for a much nicer car or house.
This is true when we’re impatient in the desire for a new career or job opportunity.
This is true when we’re impatient in the desire for a church home that helps us to feel accepted and involved.
Is waiting fun?
Usually not.
What is less fun is what happens when we don’t.
Rebound relationships almost always struggle or fail.
Overextending ourselves financially in order to meet others’ expectations — or to feel better about ourselves — is never healthy.
Wanting a new career or new job or new church just so we can feel better about ourselves is a recipe for residual, resentful stress imposed upon ourselves.
The words of Isaiah 40:31 really are true:
“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.” (NKJV)
And it could be added to that verse, “They shall sail and not fear sinking.”
What? Where did that idea come from?
Even the apostles, the men who were with Jesus 24/7, they struggled to remember the importance of waiting.
And when they failed, it was ugly.
Thank God for Jesus’ grace, though.
After Jesus fed the multitudes with five loaves and two fish, He decided to go by Himself onto a mountain to pray. His apostles went down to the Sea of Galilee’s shoreline to wait for Him before they sailed to the other side to continue ministry. You can follow the events by reading these words from John 6:16-21…
“That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!”
It’s hard to believe that the apostles gave up waiting on Jesus and unilaterally decided to leave Him behind.
What were they thinking? What did they expect Jesus to think when He came back down to the shoreline and saw that the apostles had left Him without asking for permission or even to leave a Post-it note as to where they had headed?
It’s amazing when you think about it. But impatience and personal agenda and overconfidence prompts us to do some foolish things.
Such as thinking that we don’t need to wait on the Lord.
Jesus had every right to strongly chastize the apostles for abandoning Him. But Jesus is gracious once again and thought only of what was best for them at the moment and for their long-term understanding of who He was.
We’ve all found ourselves in relationship storms or financal storms or career storms because we foolishly didn’t wait on the Lord and because we thought we knew better and that faith was wasting our time.
Thank God that the mess we found ourselves in as a result was not worsened by a Lord who yelled at us, called us stupid and selfish and refused to help us get to where we wanted to be.
Let’s become better at waiting. Let’s remember that when God acts, it’s because the time is right in His perfect view, not our imperfect view.
As always, I love you
Martin
