Are we there yet?

Are we there yet? The very question from the back seat brings a smile to a dad’s face. Some things are so difficult to wait for. If you’re in the car on your way to grandma’s house, you should be there like…yesterday.

Any child knows that!

We all hate to wait.

Because of that, there is an entire industry of “fast food.” Why else would you eat something that can be prepared in 4 minutes and has enough preservatives to keep it safe for hours without refrigeration! We have 10-minute oil changes, call-ahead orders at restaurants, and (my latest find) apps for my favorite gospel bird restaurant where I can send my order in and walk to the counter to pick it up when I arrive!

Waiting is part of life, but we hate to do it.

Yesterday, in the opening message to our new Christmas Series, “Miracles of Christmas,” I shared from Galatians 4 about the Miracle of the Moment. One of the references I made was that the people had come through 400 years of prophetic silence…waiting on the Lord’s deliverance through His Messiah. I am still “chewing on” prayer going unanswered for centuries. We struggle to hold it together if our doctor’s appointment is delayed 15 minutes!

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son… Galatians 4:4.

Waiting is not always bad. (Ok, don’t stop reading because you saw that. Keep going…you’re almost there.)

Could you imagine asking for a piece of pie and then refusing to wait for it to fully cook? Tell the chef to bring it to me now in whatever condition it is in! Or, perhaps, a pregnant mom saying at the end of the first trimester, “I cannot wait six more months, give me my baby right now!” Or, opening a cocoon so you can see the butterfly today! These ridiculous examples are only ridiculous because we know that if you interfere with the process you don’t get what was designed.

If we trust the wisdom of design for a dessert recipe, or a pregnancy, or the metamorphosis of a butterfly, should we trust a Sovereign God less?

Don’t stop praying.

He hears, knows, and cares. (Exodus 3).

Don’t stop pressing forward.

That longing in your heart is by His design to keep you moving.

Don’t shortcut the process.

You ruin a pie when you don’t let it cook.

Don’t despise the process.

The Lord is working on a glorious plan if you’ll trust Him.

400 years was a long time to pray for deliverance to a seemingly silent God…but man…was Jesus worth the wait!