The Wisdom of Waiting
Scripture Reading — Genesis 16:1-16
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you.
Abraham struggled to wait for his and Sarai’s promised child to be born. It seemed to him that God was too slow in keeping his promises. Eventually Abraham and Sarai lost patience with God and tried to have a child in their own unsanctified way (through Sarai’s servant). In his foolishness, Abraham ran ahead of God—leaving a path of relational carnage in his wake.
Many of us can probably recall times when we have done something similar. We were unhappy with God’s timing and began doubting his reliability. Maybe we didn’t go as far as Abraham did, but we still charged ahead and tried to direct our own destiny.
Often we find it easier to work rather than wait, to try harder rather than to trust, to play God rather than to surrender to him. But Abraham learned the hard way that there is one thing worse than waiting for God—and that is wishing you had waited. Abraham spent the rest of his life regretting his lack of faith and the rashness of his actions.
God’s timing and ours are often not in sync, so we are called to wait. And yet the Lord is not slow in keeping his promises (2 Peter 3:9). From the perspective of eternity, God’s timing is perfect. Our calling is simply to trust God, giving him the time and space needed to work out his good plan.
Lord, it is a privilege to be part of your great plan to restore this world. Help us to step into that plan, waiting patiently to see what you will do in us and through us. Amen.
About the author — Dan Jongsma
Daniel Jongsma serves as an interim pastor in Fulton, Illinois. He has pastored congregations in Elmhurst and Fulton, Illinois; in Dearborn, Michigan; and in Nashville, Tennessee. Dan also served as a church planter in the Chicago area. He and his wife, Gloria, have three daughters and four grandchildren.
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