Wednesday

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." Psalm 27:14

Do you like to wait? Is patience your strong characteristic?

I don't. Really. I don't wait very well. In a couple of days we're headed to Disney World...guess what we'll do there...wait. In long lines. For a 30 second ride. Uuugggghhh....

Did I mention I don't like to wait...

If we're honest with ourselves...nobody really LIKES to wait. Some people are just more tolerant of it than others. We don't do well with delayed gratification...or the words "not now"...waiting doesn't come naturally to us.

Let's look at today's verse....look who we're waiting on there...God. His timing. His plan. Are you waiting on something this morning? Have you been praying for that one thing to happen that just doesn't feel like it's ever going to come? Write this verse down on an index card and tape it where you can see it...

Look what the Psalm says is the key to waiting for God: 1) Be Strong 2) Take Heart

Where am I supposed to get this motivation? How am I supposed to be strong and take heart if I don't like waiting...if I am impatient with God? Here are a couple of tips:

If you feel like you just can't wait any longer for God... do two things: Remember and Look.

We need to remember what God has already done in the past. How many things has God taken care of that we worried about? How many times did we stress unnecessarily about life when He already had it taken care of... When we get impatient with God's timing - we need to remember what He has already done and understand that we would save ourselves a bunch of sleepless nights by just keeping a perspective about who He is...He is God. He's got it. Everything's under control...don't forget the victories of the past.

The second thing to do is look. What is God doing right now that I might be missing. Many times we completely miss what God is actually doing about a situation because we are focused on what we think God ought to be doing. Let's open our eyes and observe what may already be happening to solve things. Missing the forest for the trees? Feeling impatient with God? Choose to look for the solution God wants not what we think should happen...

My challenge for you today is to take a baby step toward patient waiting. What is that one prayer request that continually finds its way into your journal. You are so tired of saying it...writing it down...bringing it up in small group... isn't God hearing me? He hears you...He cares...I promise.

Pastor Brian