God Wants Good Waiters!

Somebody observed that patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears. Americans don’t like idling. Idling suggests not moving or if moving, moving very, very slowly, as in "just idling along." Americans don’t like idling and we don’t like slow. We like fast. As in fast lanes, fast cars, fast computers, fast food, fast banking, and fast doctor and dental visits. We want "same day delivery" or at least "over night." At the restaurant we want fast service, not waiters (that is "servers") who keep us waiting. We even like things speeded up at church sometimes. Like the song leader who announced, "We will now sing ‘Take Time To Be Holy,’ and for the sake of time let us sing verse 1 and verse 4." There’s no denying we live in a hurry-up, pedal-to-the-metal, on-your-mark, get set, let’s go, warp-speed world! The plain fact of the matter is, "Most Americans can’t bear to wait." Those words were the title of Associated Press article (THE TENNESSEAN, Monday, May 29, 2006, p 1A). The article, by Calvin Woodward, began with these words: "We’ll make this quick. We know you’re busy. An Associated Press poll has found an impatient nation." The nation, of course was – and still is – our nation. The rest of Woodward’s article discussed our impatience when we get put "on hold" on the phone or have to wait in line at a grocery store or other places we go. To quote Woodward again, "In short, Americans want it all NOW. Or awfully close to now." Truly, millions of Americans stink when it comes to waiting.

But wait! God’s word directs Christians to be good "waiters." Psalm 27:13-14 (attributed to David) calls to readers in an "it can’t wait" world – "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!" David was dealing with difficult circumstances and people as he penned this psalm. He surely wanted immediate relief, but he had learned to wait on God and to trust the Lord to act in His own time and way. James, considered by many Bible students to be the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, calls on God’s people to be good waiters. In James 5:7-8 he gives this inspired directive to Christian brothers and sisters who were living through very difficult times, suffering injustice and egregious mistreatment at the hands of powerful, rich people – "Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." Translation – "Times are tough right now. But trust God. A better time is coming." James urges them to be "good waiters." These words have an important application for us at this present moment. The drastic measures taken to battle the Covid-19 – orders to stay at home, "social distancing," avoiding all non-essential travel, etc. – have left us feeling our very lives are on hold. We are waiting, and waiting – even as we say, "I can’t wait until it’s over and I can (you finish the statement) ..." As we await that time, let us trust that God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Let us not lose heart. Let us, like David, believe that we will continue to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And like the farmers Bro. James referred to, let us wait patiently on the Lord. Remember friends – God wants good waiters! Think about it.

      by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN