February 18, 2024
We humans in 2023 like things settled rapidly. If we go on a trip, most of us want to get to our destination as quickly as possible, and if you are like my dad was, as soon as you arrive, it’s time to start home! If we watch a movie about World War 2, the war is over in two hours or so. Unfortunately, the resolution of reality generally takes quite a bit longer than we would like. It seemed as if I would never grow up but now that I am sixty, the previous years seem to have flown by. Maybe one of the reasons for our desire to settle things quickly or to see issues have a speedy resolution is because most of us, including yours truly, aren’t so good at waiting. As I was studying Exodus chapter one yesterday, I started pondering on a situation that might help us curb our impatience. Exodus chapter one picks up where Genesis chapter fifty leaves off. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that over four hundred years have come to pass in between the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus. The end of Genesis reveals that seventy people travelled to Egypt with Jacob. Commentators believe there were upward of two million Hebrew descendants of Jacob living in Egypt at the beginning of Exodus (See Numbers 1:45-47). Here is what got my attention. In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation. God also promised Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. With our twenty first century mind set, we would expect these promises to be fulfilled rather quickly. However, God is on a different timetable than we are. God did fulfill the promises, but it took him nearly a half century to do so. Where am I headed with all this? I’m glad you asked. We need to learn to be patient and wait on God. God WILL keep His promises, but they will be kept in God’s way and in His time. When we pray for God to mend our relationships, heal our illnesses, and fix our futures, let’s remember God’s answers will most likely take time. Isaac prayed to have children for twenty years before God gave him Jacob and Esau. God fully intended for Moses to deliver the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage and to turn those same Hebrews into the nation of Israel, but He waited until Moses was eighty years old before he made His move. Samuel anointed David as King, but more nearly fifteen years passed before David sat on the throne. I fully believe in the sovereignty of God, and I fully believe He is working all things out for our good and for His glory. I just need to learn to depend on God’s timetable. Turns out, when Jesus was four days late to the house of Lazarus, He was right on time! He will be on time for us as well.
Be blessed and then go be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy
