My husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary this past July. When we said, “I do,” all those years ago, we didn’t consider, or even understand, what would happen between day one of marriage and year 40. While much has happened over the years, it feels as if they have passed in a breath of time. We thought a lifetime would take longer than it has. Now I have come to understand what it means when someone says, “It won’t be long now.”
I heard it won’t be long
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at Awaken Life church here in Pretoria. I touched on the topics that have dominated the blog most recently: patience, prayer, and trust. There are many opportunities that life affords us to have patience, to pray, and to trust God. Daily, I find myself reciting the verse, “Let patience have its perfect work” (see James 1:4). So, when I was standing in the congregation last week, getting ready to speak, I heard God quietly say, “It won’t be long now.”
Excited, I began to think about what He meant by telling me, “It won’t be long now.” We are facing many things on multiple fronts (much like you, who are reading). Which one did He mean wouldn’t take long? I focused and asked the Lord to give me clarity. “What are you talking about, Lord?”
Mind you, I had to keep some of my concentration on what was going on around me, as I didn’t want to miss my prompt to get on stage. But I stilled my thoughts, which were going in every direction, and waited to hear what He meant. I finally slowed down enough to hear.
The Lord waits
Isaiah 30:18 "Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him."
This verse from Isaiah popped into my mind. Jamie and I had just been talking about it recently, so it wasn’t difficult to pull it off the “hard drive” of my mind. In the context of God’s short word to me, “It won’t be long now,” I was no longer confused. I had been keeping God waiting to answer many of my prayers and had spent most of my time searching instead of listening. I hadn’t taken the time to stop to hear from Him. Now I know that it won’t be long until I hear from Him.
When I hurry, I can’t hear
God never hurries or neglects in getting something done. He is patiently waiting to be gracious to us. We are the ones who are too busy to sit at His table and hear His voice. He’s sitting, He’s waiting, and He is ready. I stopped in my virtual tracks in my chair and asked the Lord to forgive me for my hurry. I understood that He had the answers to what I was facing, and if I could still myself long enough, He would have a chance to speak. He was the One waiting for me to stop hurrying and to stop looking for an answer.
God faces no deadlines. Unlike us, He is not limited by time. He operates with a “now” point of view. He doesn’t slumber (see Psalm 121). Nor do His eyes grow heavy with sleep. He waits for us to slow down and have a seat so we can hear Him and receive whatever He has for us.
Patience, because it won’t be long now
The patience part comes into play when we give in to His timing of affairs. Most of the world around us glorifies “busy-ness” over calm. Since we live in the world, it becomes normal to feel the need to rush around at Mach speed. And if we don’t rush like everyone else, we think that life isn’t being lived properly. This hurried pace bleeds into our relationship with God. We hope He will instantly answer the prayers that we pray on the road. He knows we’re busy raising our families, making our way in the world, surely He will send an instant pot to cook the answers to our prayers at the same speed that we are living life.
God has a table set before us, and it’s not set for fast food with paper plates. He’s taken the time to set the table “just so” to spend time with us (much as my mother would do during the holidays). He Himself is the answer to our prayers. Not what He can do, but Who He is: our Father. Because He is a Father, His interest is focused on His children.
Less is more
With God, less is more. If we want more of Him, we need to respond to the pressures of life differently. God is always ready to speak to us if we hurry less and listen more. If we listen and still ourselves, it won’t be long and we will hear His voice. Stop hurrying for a change and take time to sit at His table.
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