Patience, NOW!

Are you waiting? I am. It seems like there is always something I am longing for, looking toward, or praying to completion. I can find myself so engrossed in the future that I forget about the present. Today. Now. This beautiful day created for us by God, a day we can look to him and follow his will, a day where we should walk with him moment by moment. It seems simple, but too often our gaze is so firmly fixed on the future that the present slips by unnoticed. But back to the future. :) 

Why do we want tomorrow's blessings today?

Beth Moore gives some great words in her Esther study, and here's one: it's hard to balance passion with patience. Think about that. Those things about which we are most passionate are the very ones we long to see complete, the ones for which we petition God, the ones that drive us to dream about tomorrow. These are the things that make us forget who is in control. 

I guess I've grown a little impatient lately, because the Lord has bombarded me with scripture and studies on patience. It amazes me how God works! He has shown me time and time again that He is in control and I just better not forget it. Having said that, let me allow him to work through His word. Consider this:

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!     Isaiah 30:18  

              

Here is something I learned. This blew me away. Look at the words I put in italics. They are THE SAME word in Hebrew. The Lord longs to bless us just as we long for him to do it. The Lord waits to bless us but those who wait will be blessed. We wait together! How incredible is it that we share this with Him! OK, but He is God. He doesn't have to wait. 

So why does He? 

God sees everything. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "There is a time for everything." And there is. There is a time for God to bless us. He longs to bless us now, but He knows our future and He will not act until the time is perfect.

So we wait. Here are scriptures to ponder today (got to make the most of it!) while you wait for your time to come:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."   Proverbs 3:5

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:3 (italics mine)

We have joy set before us, don't we? Are we willing to endure our cross until the time is right for our joy to arrive? Phillippians 4:19 answers to those who wait:

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

He will meet all your needs, according to his riches in Christ. Worth waiting for, isn't it? Poor Lazarus had to wait. He waited two days for Jesus to come and heal him. Lazarus died. But his death wasn't without purpose:

"Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, 'Let us go back to Judea.'"  John 11:5-7

When Jesus arrived in Judea, Lazarus had died.  And that was perfect. Jesus knew when Lazarus' death would take place and waited for it to pass before he returned. The wait presented the opportunity for Jesus to perform a miracle greater than healing disease. It gave him the opportunity to raise Lazarus from the dead. By doing so, he showed the disciples his power over death. He performed a miracle central to our faith, resurrection from the dead.  I am sure Lazarus and his loved ones longed for his healing. The disciples surely raised eyebrows when Jesus chose to wait two days after hearing of Lazarus' sickness. Why not now? they thought. In the end, Jesus blessed Lazarus with healing. And by waiting, he accomplished much more.

Finally, lest you fall captive to weariness and lose sight of God, read the words of Jeremiah 29:11-14. They give hope for the future, and a plan for now.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity.'"