- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 18,404
The Waiting Game
''Let patience have her perfect work...' ' James 1:4
Mike Pilavachi once wisely compared answered prayer to a tortoise. Think about it, a tortoise dawdles at an incredibly long-drawn-out pace. Occasionally the answers to our prayers can seem a long time coming.
We send one up to God and it's as if He straps the answer to the shell of a tortoise. The trouble is, often we give up waiting and so the tortoise, having only made it half way to us, turns round and heads back home. Our culture hates waiting. We've got steam blowing out of our ears if we have to wait ten minutes in a queue.
We get twitchy fingers waiting for our computers to boot up. And heaven help the fast food chain that keeps us waiting five minutes on our quarter pounder. We carry our twitching fingers and steaming ears into our prayer life.
But God just isn't in the same rush as us when it comes to relationship. '...Waiting does not diminish us; any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy' (Romans 8:24-25 TM).
Perhaps God sometimes keeps us waiting because He wants us to be more thankful for the giver than the gift. You wouldn't give up on your mum just because she won't give you your Christmas present in August; nor should we give up on God just because He hasn't given us an answer out of season.
written by Bob Gass
''Let patience have her perfect work...' ' James 1:4
Mike Pilavachi once wisely compared answered prayer to a tortoise. Think about it, a tortoise dawdles at an incredibly long-drawn-out pace. Occasionally the answers to our prayers can seem a long time coming.
We send one up to God and it's as if He straps the answer to the shell of a tortoise. The trouble is, often we give up waiting and so the tortoise, having only made it half way to us, turns round and heads back home. Our culture hates waiting. We've got steam blowing out of our ears if we have to wait ten minutes in a queue.
We get twitchy fingers waiting for our computers to boot up. And heaven help the fast food chain that keeps us waiting five minutes on our quarter pounder. We carry our twitching fingers and steaming ears into our prayer life.
But God just isn't in the same rush as us when it comes to relationship. '...Waiting does not diminish us; any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy' (Romans 8:24-25 TM).
Perhaps God sometimes keeps us waiting because He wants us to be more thankful for the giver than the gift. You wouldn't give up on your mum just because she won't give you your Christmas present in August; nor should we give up on God just because He hasn't given us an answer out of season.
written by Bob Gass
