Don't Squander the Wander!

Instantly. Immediately. Like right now.

 Actually, God, I was really hoping it would have been yesterday. Or last week. Even last year. But here it is, today. Can it be today, sweet Jesus?

We beg and plead for God’s intervention in our desperation. In our need. In our brokenness. Nothing wrong with that. Ask, and ask again. Pray, and pray without ceasing. Love, and keep loving the Lord. He is with you as you wait.

In our particular season in history, we are a people who forgot how to wait. Instantly takes too long. That drive-thru line is forever, and we wonder if it really is their pleasure to serve us when the cars are wrapped around the building. Our text message isn’t answered quick enough, but we’ve forgotten the days before cell phones where we gladly waited days for that wall phone to ring. Our problems aren’t solved in the snap of a finger, so we do the Google for answers.

We need answers now. We long for freedom in an instant. We expect it without the wait. And, when we have to wait, the last thing we want to hear is someone with a syrupy tone serenading us with clichés about waiting on the Lord.

Just do it already, God. Isn’t that what really reels through our mind?

God is all about the big picture. The long game. The steps of transformation in the life of a believer. Such things take time. Truly, there is something amazing in the waiting. The answer is that much clearer. Sweeter. Richer. Meaningful. We appreciate what the Lord has done a little more when we have to wait on it.

The danger of the waiting is when our identity becomes wrapped up in the very challenge that keeps us waiting. When we pin the name of limitation on our lapel, and move along in another day, pretty much giving up that God has even heard us at all.

Like, well, I guess this is what it is. Oh well. Such is life. We mentally shrug and decide It is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t.

And we forget the magnificent power of the God we serve. The God of abundantly. The God of exceedingly. The God of perfect wisdom, perfect love.

Friend, He heard you. The first time. The second time. The five millionth time. Go ahead, ask again. He can handle it. I promise. He won’t grow weary of hearing us call. Keep asking.

Truth is, God is never slow, though we think He is. He isn’t deaf, as if we just didn’t speak loud enough. His arms aren’t too short to reach us and pull us out of the pit. God is able. Already did it. In His time. We unfortunately have a different sense of time than the Father does.

He, as Creator God, is outside of time and space. His timeline is already complete. Walk with me on this – He has already won! He already has the end of the story, our victory at hand. We see in segments of our own millisecond in history. God doesn’t mind if we have to sit and trust and pray and cling and claim. His purpose is bigger than the mess we see today.

See, it is His glory that shines through our storm. It is His love that overcomes. It is His people who know what it is to have plenty and have lack, and praise Jesus in the midst of all of it. Our relationship with God should not be contingent on whether He gives us everything we ask for; everything hinges on what He has done for us. When we embrace this truth and embrace the God who saves us from the pit of hell, things change. Jesus becomes Lord of our life.

He wants good for us. He wants healing for us. He wants provision for us. So, with our eyes set on Him, Jesus says hello child, I hear your request. How about I add these other things as well? That’s the God we serve.

God is calling us to be a people that rise above the temporary. Rise above our instantaneous whims and immediate demands. God calls us to learn to lean into the power and presence of Jesus. A people who tap into the comfort, power, and strength of the Holy Spirit. We are a witness to the world around us as we wait. People see how we live in the struggle and see how the Living Water refreshes us in the deserts of our days. This is the test of our testimony.

For when God does move in power, in His instantly, in His immediately, we are primed and ready to say yes, and He moves in power for all to see. All who saw us in our weakness. All who saw us in our brokenness. Waiting. Anticipating. And then one day, we are obviously different. Changed. Transformed.

That moment when only God could have done the thing, and oh, how He has done it. Instantly. For the world to see.

And He gets all the glory. All. Every bit.