The world in which you live seems to have as one of its rules to follow—hurry up and wait. This code of conduct permeates the culture in which you live. You experience it at work where your boss gives you an urgent deadline only for much time to follow before it is addressed. The drive to work in an urgent rush only leads to waiting in traffic more than usual because of some wreck or stalled car. When you are rushed to the ER at the hospital you wait hours before you see the doctor. Your life is full of a hurry up and wait scenario.
This mentality carries over to your spiritual life, as well. You want God to answer your request and to do it pronto. An unknown author wrote: “Finding Phillips Brooks, the noted New England pastor, pacing his study, a friend asked him, ‘What is the trouble?’ ‘The trouble is,’ answered Brooks, ‘that I’m in a hurry—but God isn’t.’” Ha! Ha! You smile and chuckle inside, because you can identify perfectly. So often you get in a big hurry only to find out that God has a totally different plan for your life.
King David of the Old Testament knew far too well the necessity of waiting on God, so that he would not move forward until God gave the go ahead. In Psalm 27 David commands the believer through the Scriptures to “wait on the Lord.” He mentions that not once but twice, in the verse for emphasis. Verse 14 reads, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.” This tells you to make sure above all else that you do not rush ahead, but that you “wait for the Lord.” The verse also tells you not to sit around doing nothing while you wait. It tells you to “be strong” and to be courageous. The only way you can do that is by totally turning the matter, whatever it is, over to the Lord. The next action is just to wait. Don’t think that waiting is doing nothing and wasting time. It is doing something; it is resting in the assurance that God is working, and in His time, He will answer your request.
So, don’t follow the world’s advice to hurry up and wait. Take God’s advice and wait while during this time you are exercising faith that in His time He will answer. After all, being “strong” is actually placing 100% of your faith in the Lord to answer your request.
