Waiting is worth it!

Scripture Read: Judges 4:1-6 Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. The sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.

Application: Deborah walked with God, refusing to allow the dismal conditions of her society to change her commitment to the Lord. What we also see in this text is one of the most difficult things we humans find to do. Wait! More then ever we live in an instamatic culture and age. From fast food to instant messaging, DVRs to reporting every movement of everyday to everyone on the internet. This has made us a very impatient people. We want what we want and we want it NOW! Deborah was a individual that waited on God, something, if we are honest, is difficult to do. His timing does not revolve around us, but around His plans. God is very, very patient. His plans unfold just as He desires and the timing is always perfect according to the eternal perspective. That’s why we struggle with it because our paradigm is a temporal one. We do not see the BIG picture nor understand the final goal. The ironic truth about God’s timing is that many times the harder we try to make things happen the less likely they will. 

The old story about a man walking wearing a coat, the Cold Wind and the Sun is a great example. The Cold Wind claimed he could get the man’s coat off. The Wind blew and blew; this only made the man cling onto his coat tighter. The Sun just smiled, turned up his heat and just waited! In no time the coat came off. Many times we find ourselves being the Wind, trying through shear “will power” to make things happen. God on the other hand just smiles and waits as His plans unfold in His time. Deborah was faithful to her call, even though she also was under the harsh rule of Jabin for 20 years! Yet, she waited until the Lord moved her to call for Barak to give instruction of God’s deliverance. This leads us to another important question: Am I willing to pay the price to see God move? That may include just waiting, not knowing when His time to move will come. If we are willing to pay the price, which has the understanding that may include waiting, AND we do not go on vacation expecting a phone call from the Lord, we will, like Deborah, be faithful where we are at no matter how long the wait is. Then God will reveal His plan and we will reap the fruit!  

Meditation Questions: What do you feel when you have to wait for what you want? What do you do with those emotions? How many times in your life do you think you have run ahead of the Lord? What did you learn from those experiences? Can you think of a time when you waited for the Lord to reveal what He desired? What did you learn from those experiences? Are you willing to wait on His timing? What does your answer show you?