March 16, 2025
I have never taken the time to calculate how much time I spend waiting, and I must admit, even with sixty-plus years of experience, I don’t like waiting, and I am not very good at it either. I hear a commercial on the radio all the time that advertises a “junk removal” service. They say all you need to do is point and the junk at which you are pointing will magically disappear. “Poof” it’s gone! Don’t you wish you could just point and eliminate your waiting time? Just think about it. You pull up to a red light, point your finger, and poof, the light turns green, and you continue on your way. Or you are finished grocery shopping, and all the checkout lines are miserably long. Just point your finger and poof, the line is gone, and it is magically your turn to check out, and since I am the person creating this scenario, I might as well create one where not only is the line gone, but the cashier is friendly, fast, and efficient as well. Here is my biggie. I am in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. The doctor wants me to arrive twenty minutes early so they can stay on schedule, but of course, they are running behind and so, I wait...and wait...and wait. You can bet I’d love to point my finger and eliminate that wait time. Perhaps the reason for your wait is a bit more serious. You’re not feeling well, so the doctor runs some tests to determine the reason. The waiting time to get those test results can seem like an eternity. The point I am trying to make is, we spend a lot of time waiting, don’t we? I suppose waiting is just a part of life we must learn to endure. Here is something that might make our waiting a bit more palatable. We read in the Bible that most of God’s followers had a significant time of waiting somewhere in their lives. I imagine the time Noah and his family spent on the ark with all those animals wasn’t a totally pleasant experience. Joseph spent several years in God’s waiting room from the time he was thrown into the pit by his brothers until he was made second in command in Egypt. Moses spent forty years shepherding four-legged sheep in the backside of the Midian wilderness preparing himself to shepherd God’s two-legged sheep in the wilderness for forty more years. David was anointed King of Israel as a very young man but would spend several years fighting lions, bears, giants, and King Saul before God deemed him ready to ascend to the throne. A careful study of the “wait time” of these men teaches us that waiting is not necessarily spent just marking time. Turns out, God’s waiting room is a classroom where God is preparing us for what is coming down the road. So, while I may never learn to appreciate waiting, I am learning that waiting is a part of living, so I need to learn to sit back and enjoy the journey.
Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro Andy
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