Hurry Up

Have you ever had to wait on somebody? Perhaps you waited anxiously in the car ready to leave for an appointment but, you had to wait for that last family member to get out the door. Maybe you had to wait for someone at a meeting who let you know they were running late. Maybe you waited anxiously for a phone call. In such moments we want people to hurry up.

What about with God. I suspect more than one person reading this is waiting for God to do something. To answer a prayer. To remove a burden. To change someone. To bring a loved one to repentance. To make provision. To give clear direction.

In those moments of waiting do you ever wish God would hurry up? Sometimes those moments of waitings turn into seasons of waiting. We don't like to wait. We live a hurry up society. We don't like waiting for the video to stream, for a webpage to open, a drive thru line to move along and we most assuredly do not like waiting on God.

We are impatient people. The truth is God does some of His best work while forcing us to wait. He shapes and molds us. He matures us and teaches us perseverance. He has an appointed time for everything. He is, therefore, never late. He is timely. He has a plan and things are running according to schedule even if it does not appear that way.

It is both foolish and futile for us to want God to hurry up. As if we know better than Him. O how we moan and groan in our waiting seasons. We question lots of things about God in those seasons. He is not deterred by our whining. He just keeps on working and tells us to keep on trusting Him. He has a plan and a schedule and nothing can derail them.

Like it or not God builds waiting into our lives. We can push back, stress out and wear ourselves out trying to hurry God up. The implications are not good for our faith nor our health. On the other hand, we can choose to submit to His timing and work in us. We can surrender the matter to Him for as long as it takes. There are things I have been waiting on God for close to a decade. I've come to the conclusion I cannot hurry God up.

While I cannot see what He is doing I am confident God is working. Just like He used the waiting time between Noah's command to build the ark and the flood. He used Joseph's enslavement to prepare the way for the preservation of the nation of Israel in Egypt. He does not waste time. Waiting has a purpose.

So I offer you this simple truth. Instead of saying, "Hurry up God," I challenge you to read, meditate on and pray these beautiful words.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) 
³¹  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.