Do you know how much longer?

Have you ever waited on something? Waited on a phone call? Waited on your food to be delivered to your table? Waited to hear the news regarding a loved one whose health is in jeopardy? Can you remember what it’s like to wait? It’s not easy. I guess, today, it’s because we live in the age of fast food, the internet and microwave ovens. I was upset recently when I had to walk, at least 100 yards, into the convenience store because the gas pump didn’t spit out my receipt after I had used my debit card AT THE PUMP… the nerve of that gas pump. My Palm Pilot definitely didn’t reflect an extra thirty seconds of free time that I could waste walking INTO the store. See what I mean. We live in a city, a nation, a culture that no longer understands the concept of waiting. What does it really mean to wait anyway? Webster says it this way: to stay in place in expectation of, or to remain stationary in readiness or expectation.
So why is it we don’t want to wait? Is it simply that we can’t be still for a period of time, long enough, to actually display any sense of patience? Are we really too busy? If our schedules don’t stay on track and if all of our ‘To-Do’ list items don’t receive the checkmark of completion, how long will it actually be before the world, as we know it, comes crashing down around us?
Sure I’m one of those people who does the ‘way-too-busy’ thing. But I like to think I’m a recovering ‘Busy-holic’. (Is there a support group for that?) But here’s what I think. I think the problem lies in the fact that we (myself most certainly included) have made ourselves far too important and we, without even realizing the degree to which we’ve done it, have greatly diminished the importance of God’s role in our lives. Many years ago, in a world without computers, Palm Pilots, cell phones and Pay-per-View television, the Psalmist wrote these words, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10a) Even then, in a world much less technologically gifted than our current day, the people had to be reminded to ‘Be still…”. Today we need to be reminded again to “Be still…”
I’ve been praying a lot lately. I’ve been praying a lot for God’s guidance concerning a number of issues. During these times of prayer I’ve not been shy about ‘asking’ God for answers, signs, wisdom and peace. I’ve done great at the ‘asking’ part but, as I reflect on it, I realize that my failure has come in the ‘listening’ part; the ‘being still’ part. I sit down a read a book. I sit down and watch a baseball game. I sit down and have a conversation with my wife and children. I sit down and type out a blog. Why do I find it so hard to sit and simply ‘be still and know that He is God’? I think it’s because I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait. God may answer immediately, the way I like it. Or He may wait hours, days, weeks, months or even (gulp) years. I just never know how long it’s going to take. If you tell me how long it’s easier for me to wait. When I’m at a restaurant, waiting to be seated, often times I’m the guy who continually approaches the host or hostess to ask, “Do you know how much longer?” It makes it easier for me to wait. God’s not in the habit of sharing His timetable with me. He just wants me to, “Be still and know…”
What have you been praying about lately? Has God answered? Have you even listened? I mean REALLY listened. Have you waited on God? Or did give up when the time limit YOU established ran out?
I can answer all those questions as they relate to my own life… I just don’t want to tell you what the answers are.

" The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. " (Ecclesiastes 7:8)