Recently, I made the mistake of hitting my local grocery
store after work. It was packed. Traffic jam by the bananas, three cart pile
up at the milk refrigerators, register lines backed up to the bread aisle. What a mess.
My plan was to do a quick in-and-out and be home in 10 minutes, but one
look at the checkout lanes and I knew my plans we irrelevant. I was in for a wait. I picked a lane at random and settled in to
wait my turn. While I waited, a
gentleman came and stood behind me and I was quickly made aware that he was not in the mood
to wait. He shuffled impatiently back
and forth sighing heavily. He was
muttering, complaining and constantly craning his neck to see what everyone
else was doing. He waited behind me for
perhaps two minutes and decided he’d had enough. He changed lanes to the one next to us. Soon, he became impatient there and moved one
more over. As I was placing my few
groceries on the belt, I became aware of a commotion in the lane chosen by Mr.
Impatient Pants. He was loudly
vocalizing his displeasure because the cashier was doing a price check for another customer. He was so worked up! I couldn’t help but smile as I breezed by him
on my way out of the store. If he had
only waited, he would be on his way out as well instead stranded two people
back from the promised land of checking out.
We are all familiar with the Exodus and the Israelites
circling Mt. Sinai as God dealt with their idolatrous hearts and impatient
spirits. Every rebellion of heart and
work of their own hands simply added to the amount of time spent in the
wilderness as God refined them in preparation to receive His promises. I wonder how often in my walk with Jesus do I
miss the “promised land” because I become impatient and change lanes. We all know that waiting is difficult and the
difficulty multiplies exponentially depending on the intensity you wish for
something to happen. I am well aware
that when I become impatient, I am tempted to crane my neck and look at what everyone
else is doing with their lives and what they have in comparison to myself. Many times I am tempted to alter my course to
generate activity or murmur and complain because things are just not working
out the way I think they should. I say to myself, "Why is this taking so long?! Why am I wasting my time here?!" I have
made the mistake of trying to get what I want by jumping lanes and attempting
to hustle God along to my envisioned promised land only to wind up stranded at the
base of Mt. Sinai while I learn my lesson.
Reminds me of the old song:
Go on and . . . take
another lap around Mt. Sinai
‘Til you learn your lesson
‘Til you stop your whining and you quit your rebellin’
‘Til you learn to stand in your day of testin’
By trustin’ and obeyin’ the Lord.
‘Til you learn your lesson
‘Til you stop your whining and you quit your rebellin’
‘Til you learn to stand in your day of testin’
By trustin’ and obeyin’ the Lord.
The Word of God lays forth the truth of God’s promises and I
have learned that He keeps them. God has
never let me down and His ways are infinitely better than mine. My way leaves me frustrated, confused and
depleted. His way leaves me to peace,
fulfillment and contentment. Why chose
chaos when you can have peace?
“I believe that I
shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your
heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”
-Psalm 27:13-14
No matter what season of life I am in, I continue to learn
that the lane God has me in right now is the best one for me, and that there is
nothing “over there” that will be better. Waiting on God is never wasted time.
