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I love instant results, instant answers, and instant solutions. I want everything in an instant.

When I was in school, well before the age of computers and cell phones, we usually had to wait several days for our test results to come out. The days spent waiting for grades to come out were harrowing. My parents, even though they were Finnish immigrants and didn’t speak English very well when I was young, followed my grades with fervor. I learned early on that there was no use in trying to deceive them into thinking my grades were better than they were. The price to pay for deception in our house was high. I decided facing the truth was better than hiding behind fiction.

Fast-forward to today, when I am connected to my daughter’s school account. I receive emails regularly, often daily, with her grades. I know that there are many arguments against technology, and many of those arguments are valid. However, when used properly, technology can be a good thing. In this case, there can be no temptation to hide undesirable results (not that my daughter would). Besides, I want everything in an instant.

We want everything in an instant

Most of us would like for answers to come instantly. We feel instant answers would alleviate some of the anxiety we feel during the difficult process of waiting. Throwing a temper tantrum because we’re not getting it our way isn’t the answer. We’re stuck with the struggle of the wait.

God does things using this pattern of waiting. Why? There are more reasons for the waiting than we could list here. But many of those reasons point back to ourselves.

40 years instead of 11 days

When God took His people out of Egypt, He instructed Moses to lead them to the Promised Land.

Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 

Exodus 3:7-10 ESV

God planned to take Israel from Egypt into the Promised Land. If you’re familiar with the story of God’s people’s Exodus, you know it wasn’t straightforward. The people ended up wandering in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land for 40 years. Some scholars say the trip should have only taken about eleven days. Talk about delay!

They did not get everything in an instant

The 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness wasn’t God’s plan. Their wandering occurred because of their unbelief and disobedience (see Numbers 13). Once the people arrived at the border of the Promised Land, Moses sent 12 spies into the land. He told them to bring back a report. And when they returned, 10 of the 12 spies’ report was not good (see Numbers 13:25-43). Their advice? Don’t enter the land; the people are like giants, and they are like grasshoppers.

The people complained and were angry with Moses. God was ready to annihilate everyone and raise a new generation of people from Moses (see Numbers 14:12). But Moses did what most of us wouldn’t have done: he had compassion on the people and prayed for them. This resulted in God sparing their lives, but their unbelief and disobedience kept them from entering the land.

They did not get everything in an instant.

Checking the condition of my own heart

This pattern of waiting for results often comes because of something lacking on our side. God was ready to immediately send Israel into Canaan, the Promised Land. But their unbelief and disobedience delayed the timing of their entering.

So many times, I’ve blamed God for delays, blamed Him because I think His timing is inconvenient. More times than I can count, I’ve chalked up perceived delays as God’s timing. Yes, there are times when God’s timing is the issue. But how many times have I chalked up delays to God’s plan instead of checking the condition of my own heart?

It may be that God’s timing is not always the issue. Maybe the issue has more to do with me than with God. What if God wants to give me my answers quicker than I think, but something in me is preventing me from entering my Promised Land?

We have other ideas

God has to work with a fallen world that is going its way. Our unbelief, pride, and disobedience often prevent God’s answers from coming to us when God wants them to. In the beginning, God created people for fellowship and family. He intended to walk with us in the “cool of the day” (see Genesis 3:8), but we have other ideas.

It’s tempting to blame Adam and Eve for our current condition. I have thought, “If I had been Eve, I would have done differently.” But my actions speak differently. There have been more times than I can count that I have gone my own way, done my own thing because it made more sense than following God’s way. Why do I do this? Because I want everything in an instant, and it’s obvious if I do it my way, I’ll get my answer faster than if I follow God’s way.

I’d never admit to thinking that way, but my actions speak louder than my words.

The conundrums I have made for myself

But God, because He is so good, is always looking to get me out of the conundrums I have made for myself. This is a pattern He’s used since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. But because we are flawed and follow our ways, because we want everything in an instant, God has to intervene in the complex situations of our own making to get us to where He wants us to be.

Take the story of an early judge in Israel’s history: Samson. Samson was born at a time when Israel had been in bondage to the Philistines for 40 years (there’s something about 40 years in Israel’s history; this is worth another study and another blog for another day). Israel wasn’t destined to be in bondage. They were, after all, God’s chosen people. But because of their perpetual disobedience, they ended up in bondage.

Along comes Samson, an unusual deliverer for sure of unusual character. He wasn’t perfect, but God destined him to play a part in Israel’s deliverance. I said he played “a part” in Israel’s deliverance, for the struggle for Israel’s deliverance from the Philistines went on after his death.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Judges 13:1-5

Samson didn’t get everything in an instant

Samson himself wasn’t immediately aware of God’s call on his life. His calling came to him in stages. It wasn’t until he grew that God’s Spirit began to stir him for service.

And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 13:24,25 ESV

Samson faced many battles with the Philistines. If you’re familiar with his life, the first thought that comes to your mind is his floundering with Delilah, who deceived him into divulging why he was so strong (he had a penchant for loving women, which led to his fall).

Ultimately, Samson only played a part in Israel’s deliverance from the Philistines. It wasn’t until the rise of David as King, about 40 years after Samson, that Israel was finally free from Philistine rule. How much sooner would God have delivered His people had they agreed with Him rather than follow their ways?

Let’s not keep Him waiting

We like to look for reasons for delays outside the realms of the conditions of our hearts. Certainly, God’s ways and times are beyond ours. He understands the end from the beginning. However, our wandering hearts complicate the timing of the Lord. It’s not only we who wait for him, but He waits for us.

Let’s not keep Him waiting too long.