HURRY UP

Have you found it is difficult to wait on the Lord? How much time are you willing to give the Lord before you act on your own?

It’s interesting how we can quote the scripture in 2nd Peter 3:8 and grasps it’s spiritual significance but never equate it to His dealings in our life. (“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”)

My suspicion is that Peter was explaining that time is of little to no consequence to God. (That’s my take on it, anyway!) Therefore, He usually does not tie Himself down to act within our time frame because in His Omniscience He knows the beginning from the end and is not controlled by time.

This creates a challenging problem for Christians. We are controlled by time: hours, days and years. We, and others, measure our successes and failures by time. Personal achievements as well as ministry goals are measured by time.

The prison cell that this creates is a haunting and usually destructive place. Our sense of value and personal worth is closely related to our time/success ratio and tends to affect our happiness or lack of it. In other words, our life has to show the right results in a certain time frame or we are judged a failure.

Every business and ministry success model promotes this philosophy. Few are willing to wait on the Lord – most plunge ahead because their vision (self or taught) requires them to “make hay while the sun shines.”

Interestingly, the Bible does not teach that concept at all. Throughout the Old Testament, the people were always told to wait upon the Word from the Lord. Terrible consequences followed disobedience to that rule.

In the New Testament, everything the Lord did was conditioned by the leading of God. He submitted to the Father’s timing.

As the church moved through history, the concept of waiting on the Lord got lost in the dust of man’s desires and “achievements.”

I write to urge you to give the Lord time to work His will in your life, business or ministry. Let Him work out the kinks in your life – or in the life of others. Let Him do what He wants to do in His time frame. It may be days, weeks, months or years but you are far better off if you wait on the Lord!
I pray the Lord blesses you today.

Warmly, in His love and life,

Roland Scroggins

© 2006