Devo 13
1/16/00
"Wait Training"
Hello and welcome to this week's devo, my name is Ben Zuehlke, you may remember me from such devos as "#10", and "#3". I hope this new millennium finds you all well adjusting to life back in school after having nearly a month off (lucky dogs!). Today, I want to call your attention to something I'm sure all of us have noticed--Jesus Christ did NOT return on Januray 1, 2000 like many predicted, or at least were expecting as very likely. I guess we'll have to wait until next new years day to run to our rooftops and await the second coming as eagerly as children await the coming of Santa Clause.
I say the above somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I see it as another example of how humans can place an inordinate amount of significance on something that really is not that important. Just because the turning over of all the dates in the calendar was cause for worldwide celebration does not mean that God would pick that day to come down and join the party. After all, if His second coming is like His first in any way, it will be in that it is not in a way humans would expect. But I digress. The point I want to make from this is that once again we find ourselves waiting for Christ's return.
I am becoming more and more convinced that waiting plays a very big part in a human's life, and dealing with waiting a big part of the Christian's life. It is not hard at all to think of some instance in even the past day when we have had to wait. For example, I'm sure all of you have been rushing to your computer every day for the past three weeks hoping that finally I would putout the next devo. OK, maybe not, but I'm sure you all understand that whether it is for something meaningless like sitting at a red light, or much more significant like waiting for the right guy/girl to cross your path, waiting is an integral part of the human experience.
Waiting is also something humanity in general is striving to overcome. Look at the technological advancements of the past 20 years alone. Computers are hundreds of times faster, speed limits have increased, fast food industries are booming, internet services providing quick easy services are fast becoming the wave of the future. We live in a society of unparalleled convenience (in America at least). With society accelerating so, it becomes especially hard to realize that the Bible does not support this philosophy of quick and easy answers to life's snags.
While the Bible may be the largest book many of us ever encounter, it is certainly not an insurmountable challenge to read through it in the space of a year. In fact my grandma has been doing just this since before I was born. And yet, contained within these pages are over 6000 years of history. Necessarily, in a history so vast many things are left out, but unfortunately because of this, we don't always appreciate the amount of waiting that went on. For instance, it only takes the space of a chapter or so to tell of Jacob's 14 years of waiting to marry Rachel. The 400 years of the Israelites slavery takes only a couple verses to describe before Moses takes the scene. The 40 years of the exodus is given a bit more space, however, it is far from a detailed account of everything that happened. The hundreds of years in the land of Caanan before King Saul emerged are covered in two books. And no indication of the 400 years of political turmoil and civil war in the time between the Old and New Testaments is given.
One of the greatest dangers (in my very uneducated opinion) of reading history, is that it is very easy to loose track of the large spaces of time that come between the 'highlights' that we study. Do you remember how long Joseph was in prison between the time of telling the baker and cup bearer their dreams and being summoned by pharaoh? Read Genesis 41:1, "When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream..." Two years! That's 730 days! 17,520 hours of sitting in prison waiting to see why God had called him to Egypt. And then after that, it was another seven years before he was able to be reconciled with his brothers. The point is this: God had a specific plan for Joseph's life and specific duties for Joseph to fulfill. But these events did not happen one after the other in rapid fashion--sometimes several years passed between the key events.
Since waiting is an unavoidable part of life (and here I'm talking mainly about waiting for the big things, not just the grocery store line or traffic light) what should our response be? By the world's standards we should do everything we can to satisfy our desires which is why premarital sex, and get-rich-quick schemes are so popular. But this isn't what the Bible teaches. Again, look at Joseph when he was thrown in prison. He did not merely hide in his cell moaning about his deplorable situation and plotting escape. No, instead he distinguished himself in the eyes of the jailer as a man who could be trusted and depended upon. And even when this happened, Joseph did not take advantage of his stature to escape. He stayed where God had called him and served the Lord there with all his heart.
What is it you are waiting for? How is your attitude towards this waiting? Remember, God is never late in fulfilling his promises. Even though years pass for us, God's timing is perfect. Psalm 145:15 says, "The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time." And Romans 5:6 tells us "at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." There are two things we can do while waiting; we can take matters into our own hands and try to make it on our own in this chancy world ,or we can wait on God's timing by spending time with Him and serving Him where He has placed us. The first choice leads to unpredictable results but often results in regardless regard less of the amount of success. The second choice, though, comes with a promise; "those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up on wings of eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."