Good Morning All,
Psalm
40:1; “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.”
In
South Dakota, we have two seasons, winter and road construction. Winter is over so we have road construction
popping up all over the place. There is
road work on one of the major highways here.
The two lane is only one lane so you wait, for three minutes to pass
through. Now you would think that three
minutes would be nothing. Yet yesterday
morning we came to an intersection with that highway and there was a convoy of
vehicles. There were about 8 or 9 National Guard vehicles going to maneuvers,
there were 4 or 5 semis and about 8 cars or pickups. I was wondering if the cars that were behind
the National Guard and the semis thought three minutes wasn’t very long.
We are a people that does not do “patience”
well. Our internet speed has to get
faster and faster, we microwave most of our meals because the oven is “just so
slow.” If we wait 10 minutes in a restaurant,
we either leave or complain; or both. So
we look at God and his promises and we complain that they are not
happening. Why can’t God get this done
more quickly? What is going on?
We can really be amazed when we think back
to when we mailed letters to each other and it took days for a letter to arrive
and then days for a reply letter to arrive.
If we don’t get an email in a few hours, we few slighted and stood
up. We do not wait patiently for
anything, yet if we read Scriptures, we need to see that God works in his time
for his purposes. Isaac was 40 years old
when he married Rebekah. He prayed for
her for to have a son and he was 60 when she gave birth. He waited patiently for 20 years. God told Abraham that his descendants would
be afflicted (enslaved) for 400 years before he would bring judgment on the
oppressors. Now that would require
patient waiting!!
Even now, we have waited almost 2000 years
for Christ to return. We often wonder
why? Why does God wait so long? First, for God it isn’t a long time. Secondly, God tells us that he is patient so
that the lost may be saved. He wants all
to be saved, for all to hear his words of forgiveness and salvation. Not all will listen, some have hearts too hard
to hear. But God gives them time to heal
and time to repent. He waits patiently
for man to return to him in prayer and thanksgiving. He longs for us to live in his kingdom. So God gives us what we always say we want, “more
time!” Yet time does move and,
eventually, ends. So we wait as well,
knowing that God is in control and trusting his promise that he will take care
of us. We trust his promise; that is
what faith means. We trust God to be
faithful to his promises. We trust that
he has always kept his promises and always will. We wait and we trust in God’s grace.
Father
of all mercy, we struggle with patience, we struggle with waiting. We see things only through our own eyes and
our time. Give us the strength to trust
your will. Guide us by your Holy
Spirit. Help us to be patient. Keep us in your loving arms. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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