Irony (Patience)

I was driving in Atlanta last night to a Light For The Lost (LFTL) Banquet. Just a quick setting of the Atlanta area; it has been raining for the past 2 weeks (100 year storm conditions). It was raining hard and I just left on a 50 minute drive to the hosting church, not good conditions. Within the first mile, the road was under 6 inches of water; the point most NORMAL people would have returned home. I am not normal, I am an impatient missionary with a desire to get back to Colombia. I had a feeling that 50 minutes was not very realistic in Atlanta during rush hour and it was raining, so I left 2 1/4 hours before the banquet. Plenty of time, or so I thought. I was relaxed in the car, listening to some podcast sermons. After 2 hours passed, I was starting to get very nervous. The irony kicked in as the current podcast was dealing with "Waiting Patiently on the Lord".

How many of us truly know how to wait upon the Lord? We pray and if we don't hear anything, we just start doing. The Lord called and sent Moses up and down the mountain many times. He had no car, no horse, no cable cars, he just hiked and climbed. And when he arrived to where the Lord was, he waited...patiently. He waited 7 DAYS before the Lord spoke. Have you ever waited 7 days on anything? If we are expecting something, we want to know exact timing! "Oh Lord! 7 days? Okay, at what time in the day?" And we put God into our schedules. And for 7 days we fill our schedules with everything else, except God. "Okay God, you have 15 minutes, make the best out of it." When Moses came before the Lord, he wasn't told a certain day or time. He just waited patiently for 7 days. He didn't do any work. He didn't play with a phone or computer. He just waited patiently!

David wrote:
I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

Patience is a requirement of time with the Lord. I often pray, "Father, not my will but let your will be done." ...But in my timing! I don't say it, but it is in my spirit. We live in the "Age of Technology". We are the "Now" generation. The world has changed, but God hasn't.

"But Lord, I don't have time because of my two jobs" (to pay for stuff I don't really need). "But Lord, I don't have time because I need to run the kids to soccer, baseball, football, etc. and then run errands." (I got Stuff to do, You play second fiddle.) "But Lord, I don't have time because I am too busy doing ministry for You." (A problem that I struggle with) Excuses don't work with teachers or parents so why do we use them with God? EXCUSES are tools of the enemy!

"Father, I'm sorry for my impatience. I'm sorry for excuses. When you wish to speak to me, I will wait patiently. When I need to hear from you, I will wait patiently. Your return is at a time that you know and I don't need to know. Let me do as you wish in your timing. I seek only to please you. Lord, help me to learn and teach others the beauty of patience. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen."