Wait - Is that a Christian Word?

Have you ever promised a 7 year old kid something?  Or taken children on a long trip in a car?  If you have, then you are probably well aware of the questions that will ensue with such endeavors.  When you promise a child something, you will be asked multiple questions about what, where and when.  They cannot wait until you fulfill your commitment.  Are we there yet?   Those are the famous car ride words.  No matter how many times you tell them how long a trip is going to take, invariably they will ask, "Are we there yet?"  Of course, part of the problem is that a child's perspective on the passage of time is different than that of an adult.  So their attitude is probably indeed impatience, but also immaturity from the lack of experience at waiting.

There have been times in my live where I felt like a kid impatiently waiting on God to move.  We have these trite Christian sayings that are designed to encourage you, but instead can lead to frustration.  You know, sayings like:

• This too will pass
• He is working it out for your good
• All in good time
• Your breakthrough is on the way
• Your blessing is on the way

In my brattier moments, my response to them all is WHEN?  And then I wonder, am I a Israelite in the middle of the wilderness grumbling against God via Moses.  You see, Moses went into Egypt full of promises.  He led the people out of Egypt with the promise of taking them to a land flowing with milk and honey.  Can you imagine how the Israelites felt?  They were oppressed and enslaved; but God says he is leading them to a bountiful land.  This was fulfillment of promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  I am certain the Israelites wanted out of the bondage in Egypt and was eager to get to the land flowing with milk and honey.  From little to an abundance - you bet! I wonder if they were anxious or impatient.  Were they filled with anticipation of abiding in such a wondrous place?  It was taking so long as they went round and round the mountain.  I wonder if they were thinking, "when God when"?  They had to be ready for  God's promise to be fulfilled, but God had a different method in bringing the promise to past. 

In the waiting, God was revealing the hearts of the Israelites.  It seems that with each step, he wanted to walk Egypt (the fleshly life) out of them.  He wanted them to enter the promised Canaan with a victor's mentality, not a slaves mentality.  They just couldn't seem to make the transition.  Only two of those delivered from Egypt, Joshua and Caleb, made it in.

Waiting on God's promises may not be fun, but they have purpose.  You must be assured that God's promises are true and will come to pass.  The only way you can forsake your promise and pass it on to the next generation is by waiting impatiently - meaning grumbling, complaining and doing the adult version of the whine.  Either we believe God or we don't.  There is a season to everything ... including God's promises.  So as we wait, let His love have it's perfect work within us.

It is worth the wait.   

2 Peter 3:9(NKJV)
⁹The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward ^£us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Numbers 23:19(NKJV)
¹⁹    “God is not a man, that He should lie,      Nor a son of man, that He should repent.     Has He said, and will He not do?     Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Romans 4:21(NKJV)
²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 

Isaiah 40:31(NKJV)
³¹    But those who wait on the Lord     Shall renew their strength;     They shall mount up with wings like eagles,     They shall run and not be weary,      They shall walk and not faint.