Hating the waiting?
20th September 2010 by Shandri Brown
I want it NOW!
A few days ago, I went through the McDonalds drive-thru for a quickie breakfast. At least that's what I had hoped for – a quick breakfast. Nope. I had to sit in my car killing time for at least ... four ... minutes. I can sense the mutual outrage at this terrible injustice as you read this! It pretty much felt like (and I want to be careful not to exaggerate here) I had to wait forever.
It doesn't really help if we are Christians and know that patience is a Fruit of the Spirit. In fact, being a Christian can makes things worse. On top of waiting for iPad prices to go down, exams to be over, and super-slow Maccas chicks, we are supposed to wait for sex too. Is there anything that I can have right now?!
It is often said that we live in a 'microwave society'; we want everything to happen right away and get frustrated at anything that doesn't fit into our brief attention span.
Waiting can be a good thing
Are we ripped off when we hate to wait? Well yes, there are many times when impatience hurts us. When we want our meal instantly, we show little gratitude for the effort that has gone into preparing it. When we want to buy new stuff without long periods of saving, we miss out on learning the value of discipline and delayed gratification. When we cannot – or choose not to – wait for sex, we can burn ourselves and others, and we miss out on God's very best plan (sex without shame, regret, secrecy or comparison).
Maybe these are just a few of the reasons why God has included so many verses about waiting in the Bible.
- "Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" Psalm 27:14.
- "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him" Psalm 37:7a.
- "No eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him" Isaiah 64:4b.
It seems to me that God wants me to learn how to wait. That's not something I might have thought was necessary, but I guess that's only partly why I am not God.
Time to stop hating slow drive-thru service and late trains; I guess they might be good opportunities to have a chat with God.
By Shandri Brown
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