Waiting...
Waiting is easier said than done. Can’t say that I like it. Time moves like a glacier...slowwwww. The clock ticks every five minutes, not every second. When we want something, it feels like someone pressed the pause button. Life in slo-mo. We don’t like to wait. We weave through traffic, looking for the faster lane. We frown at the person who takes eleven items into the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the song downloads or the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on.” We want six-pack abs in ten minutes and minute rice in thirty seconds. We don’t like to wait. Not on the doctor, the traffic, or the pizza.
Not on God?
Take a moment and look around you. Do you realize where we sit? This planet is God’s waiting room. Consider the story of Joseph:
While in prison, Joseph had asked the butler to put in a good word for him. “Remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house . . . I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon” (Gen. 40:14–15).
We can almost hear the butler reply, “Certainly, I will mention you to Pharaoh. First chance I get. You’ll be hearing from me.” Joseph hurried back to his cell and collected his belongings. He wanted to be ready when the call came. A day passed. Then two. Then a week . . . a month. Six months. No word. As it turned out, “Pharaoh’s cupbearer . . . promptly forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought” (v. 23 NLT).
Time slowed...seemingly standing still...
Chapter 41 starts like this: “Two years passed and Pharaoh had a dream” (v. 1 MSG).
Two years passed!!! Twenty-four months of silence. One hundred and four weeks of waiting. Seven hundred and thirty days of wondering. Two thousand one hundred and ninety meals alone. Seventeen thousand five hundred and twenty hours of listening for God yet hearing nothing but silence.
Plenty of time to grow bitter, cynical, angry. Folks have given up on God for lesser reasons in shorter times. There have been times the we have given up...in much less time.
Not Joseph.
When the call came to free Joseph because of the kings bad dreams...
Joseph emerged from his prison cell bragging on God. Jail time didn’t devastate his faith; it deepened it.
And what of us? We aren’t in prison, but we may be infertile or inactive or in limbo or in between jobs or in search of health, help, a house, or a spouse. Where we are is in God’s waiting room if we keep our eyes upon HIM! Here is what we need to know: while we wait, God works.
“My Father is always at his work,” Jesus said (John 5:17 NIV). God never twiddles his thumbs. He never stops. He takes no vacations. He rested on the seventh day of creation but got back to work on the eighth and hasn’t stopped since.
Just because we are idle, don’t assume God is.
Joseph’s story appeared to stall out in chapter 40. Our hero was in shackles. The train was off the tracks. History was in a holding pattern. But while Joseph was waiting, God was working. He assembled the characters. God placed the butler in Joseph’s care. He stirred the sleep of the king with odd dreams. He confused Pharaoh’s counselors. And at just the right time, God called Joseph to duty.
He’s working for us as well. “Be still, and know that I am God” reads the sign on God’s waiting room wall. We can be glad because God is good.We can be still because he is active. We can rest because he is busy.
To wait, biblically speaking, is not to assume the worst, worry, fret, make demands, or take control. Nor is waiting inactivity. Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. To wait is to “rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; . . . not fret” (Ps. 37:7).
But...being who we are sometimes...we don't take heed to this...
Let me leave you with this if you are ready to give up, Lose faith, Walk away.
Don’t.
For heaven’s sake, Don’t. All of heaven is warring on your behalf. Above and around you at this very instant, God’s messengers are at work.
Keep waiting. GOD is moving
Be Encouraged...
Waiting is easier said than done. Can’t say that I like it. Time moves like a glacier...slowwwww. The clock ticks every five minutes, not every second. When we want something, it feels like someone pressed the pause button. Life in slo-mo. We don’t like to wait. We weave through traffic, looking for the faster lane. We frown at the person who takes eleven items into the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the song downloads or the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on.” We want six-pack abs in ten minutes and minute rice in thirty seconds. We don’t like to wait. Not on the doctor, the traffic, or the pizza.
Not on God?
Take a moment and look around you. Do you realize where we sit? This planet is God’s waiting room. Consider the story of Joseph:
While in prison, Joseph had asked the butler to put in a good word for him. “Remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house . . . I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon” (Gen. 40:14–15).
We can almost hear the butler reply, “Certainly, I will mention you to Pharaoh. First chance I get. You’ll be hearing from me.” Joseph hurried back to his cell and collected his belongings. He wanted to be ready when the call came. A day passed. Then two. Then a week . . . a month. Six months. No word. As it turned out, “Pharaoh’s cupbearer . . . promptly forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought” (v. 23 NLT).
Time slowed...seemingly standing still...
Chapter 41 starts like this: “Two years passed and Pharaoh had a dream” (v. 1 MSG).
Two years passed!!! Twenty-four months of silence. One hundred and four weeks of waiting. Seven hundred and thirty days of wondering. Two thousand one hundred and ninety meals alone. Seventeen thousand five hundred and twenty hours of listening for God yet hearing nothing but silence.
Plenty of time to grow bitter, cynical, angry. Folks have given up on God for lesser reasons in shorter times. There have been times the we have given up...in much less time.
Not Joseph.
When the call came to free Joseph because of the kings bad dreams...
Joseph emerged from his prison cell bragging on God. Jail time didn’t devastate his faith; it deepened it.
And what of us? We aren’t in prison, but we may be infertile or inactive or in limbo or in between jobs or in search of health, help, a house, or a spouse. Where we are is in God’s waiting room if we keep our eyes upon HIM! Here is what we need to know: while we wait, God works.
“My Father is always at his work,” Jesus said (John 5:17 NIV). God never twiddles his thumbs. He never stops. He takes no vacations. He rested on the seventh day of creation but got back to work on the eighth and hasn’t stopped since.
Just because we are idle, don’t assume God is.
Joseph’s story appeared to stall out in chapter 40. Our hero was in shackles. The train was off the tracks. History was in a holding pattern. But while Joseph was waiting, God was working. He assembled the characters. God placed the butler in Joseph’s care. He stirred the sleep of the king with odd dreams. He confused Pharaoh’s counselors. And at just the right time, God called Joseph to duty.
He’s working for us as well. “Be still, and know that I am God” reads the sign on God’s waiting room wall. We can be glad because God is good.We can be still because he is active. We can rest because he is busy.
To wait, biblically speaking, is not to assume the worst, worry, fret, make demands, or take control. Nor is waiting inactivity. Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. To wait is to “rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; . . . not fret” (Ps. 37:7).
But...being who we are sometimes...we don't take heed to this...
Let me leave you with this if you are ready to give up, Lose faith, Walk away.
Don’t.
For heaven’s sake, Don’t. All of heaven is warring on your behalf. Above and around you at this very instant, God’s messengers are at work.
Keep waiting. GOD is moving
Be Encouraged...
