Hey friends, how are you today? We are almost halfway through the month of April.  That’s three and a half months into the new year.  Good grief! Where did the time go? Time is seemingly moving at the speed of light.  Except during the times when it seems to move so very slowly.  Especially on the day we have to wait.  And most especially, when we have to wait for an answer from the Lord.  You already know… the Lord never hurries.  Oh, how I wish He would hurry sometimes.   Hurry, hurry, Lord.  I hate to wait, have I told you that lately? I hate to wait, I said it again.  

I usually list quite a few tasks to complete in my day. My time is limited.  Waiting usually compromises the number of tasks I can accomplish in a day.  Take just yesterday for example.  I had to wash my hair yesterday.  Yes, yes, I know… for most of you this isn’t an event.   But for me, it is most certainly a time-consuming activity.  I have to plan around my hair wash day.  Therefore, this isn’t an everyday thing.  Yesterday this was a four-hour event.

4 hours friends.  Do you know what I could have been doing in four hours? Quite a bit more, if I didn’t have to wash my hair.  I’m the person who believes in the ‘faster the better’ life.  A few years ago, out of nowhere, rather suddenly, I noticed my closet was bulging at the seams.  My quick fix was to move my clothes to our rather spacious attic.  I added a few rods and tada! My closet was born.  Except, do you know what happened? As fast as it went up, it came down.  

In came the love of my life.  Now this man is of the belief that you ‘measure twice, cut once’.  Speed is not in his vocabulary (except when driving at times).  Rather than the instant closet, it took almost four months to complete. But guess what? It’s still standing today.  

Don’t you wish at times the Lord would hurry with His responses to our prayers?   Why am I still here, twenty years later, Lord? I like the Martha of the New Testament. You can read about her in Luke 10:38-42.  I look just like her, Lord.  But I want to show you har again in John 11:1-44. 

Her brother Lazarus was sick.  She and her sister sent a messenger to their Friend and Savior, Jesus.  He was to come quickly because their brother was very sick.  Unfortunately, even before the messenger got to Jesus, Lazarus died.  

Of course, Martha noticed that Jesus didn’t come immediately. She believed that if He had come quickly, her brother would not have died.  And she tells Him that.  Do you what I find fascinating about this passage? In verses 5,6 of that chapter, John confirms that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  So, He stayed away for two additional days.  

He loved them, so He waited.  How does that work, Lord? You love me and so, You wait? Tell me something friends, what do you do when one of your children is in trouble? Don’t you hurry to get to that child? That’s what I would do.  I would hurry, most certainly with already one hundred ways to solve the problem.  There would be very little time to consider the very best for my child, because of the hurry.  

Oh, to be like Thee, Lord! To love so wide, to love so deep to wait.   To wait to speak. To wait to act.  To wait to move.  To wait patiently. To wait gracefully. To wait faithfully. Oh, to be like Thee, Lord.  Martha believed Jesus could.  She believed in His ability. She believed in His capability.  But perhaps, like me, the wait caused her to doubt His desire to heal.  Not that He couldn’t, but He didn’t want to.  

Sometimes, in the waiting room of life, I don’t always believe that my Lord wants to help me.  It’s not that He can’t, but He chooses not to.  Ahhh, Lord, forgive me. I’ve listened too long to the lies of the enemy.  Because that thinking leads to the belief that He won’t because He doesn’t love me.  If He loved me, He would hurry to ‘save’ me. 

My thinking has to change.  In verse 4 of that same chapter, Jesus tells me why I have to accept not only the wait, but also His response to my prayer.  “…It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  The wait is for the glory of God.  The response to my prayer is for the glory of God.  Life is for the glory of God.  When I accept that fact, then the waiting isn’t so bad.  The waiting isn’t so long, after all.  The waiting doesn’t become desperate. Anxiety and depression do not filter through in the wait.  

Life is short, but eternity is long.  Most times, what I want from the Lord is for this earth.  This is where I am, so most of my ‘needs’ are filtered through this lens.  But the ‘glory of God’ allows me to see these ‘needs’ through eternal lens also.  How can I bring glory to God in this ‘need’ of life?

First, I have to trust Him.  Not necessarily trusting for ‘need’ but trust Him.  In order to trust the Lord, I have to believe in His great love for me.   He loves me unconditionally.  He loves me faithfully. He loves me unfailingly.  He loves me.  This statement has to be my mantra.  My circumstances have to be seen through that fact.  Jesus loves me.  Oh, how He loves me.

When life throws a curveball, Jesus loves me.  When He calls me to wait, Jesus loves me. When He calls me to wait some more, Jesus loves me.  

What therefore should be my response, when I’m called to wait? For Your glory, Lord, all for Your glory.  

Do you enjoy waiting? How do you wait? What are you ‘waiting for’?