Asher thinks he’s ready for a car. ...He should probably wait.
In today’s world of overnight shipping, Amazon Prime, and on-demand content, we want everything now. Every company is racing to deliver goods and content to the consumer as fast as possible, and we are becoming less and less tolerant with things that require us to wait. This can become problematic for a Christian because many times, God requires us to wait...Why? This is such a strange concept to many. Shouldn’t God be The fastest since He is God? He should be immediate, at the snap of a finger, faster than any company, robot or algorithm. But, if we read the scripture, we encounter a simple, but difficult to accept, statement... Wait upon the Lord.
Patience is something I have struggled with for a while, and God has been teaching me for quite some time to wait. We often hear “Patience is a virtue,” but we’d much rather like to see that in someone else rather than work on it in ourselves. When I was in college, I wanted to get it over with ASAP so that I could start working and start earning. When I started working, I wanted to do well right away instead of taking the time to learn and build myself up. This has caused me to make plenty of mistakes along the way, and some that have cost me. When I look back, I understand that 5 years ago, someone would be a fool to let me handle the responsibility that I have now. God is not a fool. He knows exactly what and how much we can handle, and when to give it to us.
The same way it takes time for us to develop in your jobs, businesses, and professions, it also takes time to develop as a Christian, in our ministries, and what God wants to entrusts us with. I once thought that all I need is passion and God would use me mightily. I had passion and God took that, but entrusted me with just a little bit. As some time went by, I realized that passion was not enough; I needed deeper understanding of the scripture. God gave me that and entrusted a little more. I then realized that understanding of the scripture needed to be accompanied by anointing, and God entrusted a little more. In the past few months, God has been teaching me that anointing needs to be accompanied with wisdom, and He entrusted me a little more. When I look back, I see God’s wisdom and His amazing plan. I continue to wait upon Him, and I continue to see what He wants to teach me.
Why?
There are several reasons, but one of the big ones that I’d like to point out is to separate our real desires before God from tantrums. I have kids, and anyone who has gone to the store with a child has experienced the following scenario: The child sees a toy; it could be a toy he never cared for and is probably never going to play with, but in that moment he wants it. So he starts yelling and fussing, and throwing a tantrum so that the parent would get him that toy right now. Wise parents don’t fall for that; they let the tantrum pass, and in two minutes the child forgets about the toy and never mentions it again.
Christians can act the same way. We get fired up about something, and we start asking God for a particular ministry, or intervention, or even a significant other, and we feel like God needs to answer our prayer, but He doesn’t. He waits. He waits to see if this is something we will wait upon Him for, or if we forget about it two days from now. I have seen young people get fired up and then get burned out. Don’t let your Christian life be a roller coaster. If you have a request before God, pray about it, be consistent, and God seeing that genuine desire will answer your prayer. If you want God to use you; pray about it daily, and wait on Him. He will use you in due time. In the meantime, He is training you, He is working out your flaws, and He is preparing you for that ministry.
God has a plan for your life. He wanted to realize that plan in you, but He will do it in His time and not in our moment of tantrum. He is a God who can grant answers to prayers before they even escape our month, and when necessary, He does that. But He is also like a wise parent who knows what we can handle and when. Seek Him with all your heart with consistency, and wait upon Him to realize His will in you.
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