Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint
Hebrews 6:13-15
13. For when God made a promise to Abraham,
because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
14. saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
15. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
The spirit of Waiting and Patience is gradually flowing away like the Jordan River that empties itself into the Sea of Galilee.
Motivational speakers are teaching us to take all that belong to us NOW. We are being told severally never to take “No” for an answer, even from God, Who determines the End right from Begining. We are taught to move in the direction of the Impatient World where everything is becoming Instant. The other time, I was watching on television, a new technology which has made some type of food to be packaged in a sealed wrapper and anytime anyday, you can still eat them very hot without warming them.
The patience of rightful cooking is fading. So, we have “Drive Through Eatries”, where you don’t have to get down from your car before you are served. “Instant Noodles’, ‘Instant Soup’, ‘Instant Slimming Tablets’ that make it unnecessary to exercise or watch what you eat, etc. ‘Instant Marriage’ makes it possible for you to walk-in with a young man or lady and walk-out of the church or hall already joined together in Holy Matrimony without any fanfare or much spending. ‘Instant Prayer’ where your answers come NOW without any waiting.
We want all our miracles NOW. We want all our provisions from God NOW. We want all the promises made by God to be fulfilled NOW. No Waiting Period, no Preparation, no exercise of Patience, nothing about accepting God’s Appointed Time. Even after Abraham had waited for more than twenty years for the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled, on the day the Angels of The Lord came to Abraham’s tent to break the News of his answered prayers, the Angel still said:
Genesis 18:10
And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life,
and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
There is still time of life or Appointed time for the fulfillment of every promise of God. So you come across verses like:
Genesis 30:22-23
22. Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
23. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
Exodus 2:24-25
24. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
Psalms 40:1
I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.
Psalms 25:21
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.
You have to add to your virtue, Much Patience, if you desire to inherit the fulfillment of whatever Promises The Lord has made to you. Your hastiness and impatience will produce for you, Ishmael, the seed of a bond-woman, while God was patiently working for you a Covenant Child: Isaac. Ishmael produces long-term pain and tears for future generations. Imagine, if Abraham had got no Ishmael, the world would have got no “Children of the Bond-Woman” troubling us today, to contend with. Can you imagine the long-term pain your impatience could cost you and all around you including your children?
A darling sister was waiting on God for a husband, and we were all feeling for her and begging that God would surprise her. She kept waiting and later began to groan impatient. At every meeting, she would approach me and lament her ordeal, and we would encourage her to wait. One day, at a program, she approached me, and looked at me very depressed and said; “Daddy, I have waited enough….I am getting weak. I have tried my best…I am getting tired already…Daddy…I repeat, I have waited enough…” I looked back at her square in the face and I said, “If you are tired of waiting for The Lord, what else would you do? Would you go back into the world because you are waiting for a partner? There is only one option left for you now after all this waiting: And the option is Wait for The Lord.”
The next time I would hear from her, she came for another program with her wedding pictures. She had married. And we were dazed. She began to bubble for joy in our midst. Wearing a smile all around. Well, we thanked The Lord for her life and for answered prayers, even though, it looked so strange. Next, we did not hear of her again for some time.
Then, the news came that she had died. She died in the hospital after a protracted illness. She died without a noise. Nobody missed her. It was strange that she could die so cheaply like that and there was not even an announcement of her death amidst the brethren. She had died and was buried before we got to know. We were later told that she got married to a married man, and the little time she spent after her wedding was a hellish one, before she became sick with a strange infirmity and died. Impatience.
Today, I bring to you this precious Counsel from the Word of God:
Hebrews 6:13-15
13. For when God made a promise to Abraham,
because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
14. saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
15. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
What has The Lord promised you? What are you looking up to God for? If The Lord subjected Abraham, His friend, to a MOMENT OF Waiting before he could obtain the Promise from The Lord, you are no exception. Your time will surely come.
May I never be blown away by the Strange wind of anxiety and impatience of the present time.
May The spirit of impatience and anxiety not make me stray away from His divine plans for my life.
Aphorism CITY 