One final lesson that God wants to teach us concerning time can be found in (Psalm 27:14): “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.”
We live in a society where everything is expected to happen instantly. We have instant breakfast drinks, microwave ovens that can cook our dinners in five minutes, computers that can add numbers almost instantly, etc.
While this instant gratification is great for our physical senses it has proven very harmful to our spiritual nature since we have carried this no wait expectation into our prayer lives. We have been trained not to wait for anything. As we grow in the Lord, we soon realize that waiting on Him is the key to success in our Christian life. Waiting on the Lord is the time tool that God uses in 1,001 different ways in our maturity process as Christians. Just consider some of the examples below:
God knows that the only way we can learn patience is if He teaches us to wait on Him. And patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. See (Galatians 5:22).
As we pray and wait for God to answer, we learn that sometimes the answer doesn’t come because we are not praying in the will of God or haven’t confessed some sin in our lives. Thus, waiting allows us to reflect on the delay and realize that God is teaching us valuable lessons which He hopes we will take to heart. Even though certain prayers may not be answered because of the two points just mentioned, waiting has taught us quite a bit.
Waiting on the Lord acknowledges that God’s timetable is not the same as ours, and allows Him the time He needs to work out His perfect plans. Waiting thus, greatly pleases God because it shows Him that even though we want our prayers answered and desires met as soon as possible, they are secondary to seeing His will accomplished, and in His perfect timing.
God allows us to experience the great joy which can only happen when we see the answer come about, at just the right time, according to God’s perfect timing. In addition, we are given the great privilege to testify to both Christian and non-Christian alike to the faithfulness of God.
As we pray and wait, we will see our faith grow. Faith involves deep trust. This trust can only come about when we learn to depend upon God through the trials we face – however, long they may last. Faith believes no matter what time the clock may indicate.
Finally, waiting on the Lord helps us to identify more with the time nature of God. When we wait on the Lord, even if it takes years before He answers our prayers, we can truly relate to the fact: “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”
Waiting thus becomes a pathway for the manifestation of the answer. Our faith in God, through the lessons He has taught us in His classroom of time, allows us to see that our petitions and their answers are really two sides of the same coin. Faith strips away the time element and merges the future into the present. It also bring us that much closer to a deeper knowledge of the awesome and mysterious dimensions of God.
The time clock of God has much to teach those of us who are willing to allow God to manage the time we have on our hands.
Incredible photo. Timely message. Thanks.