Psalms 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
One of the problems people have with God is that it is thought that He takes too long, to do what He has to do, or what He has promised to do. In almost all of the examples we will study we will see similarities and disturbing patterns emerging, which must be as beacons of warning in our own experiences.
Very many of the temptations which come our way are tailormade to cater to that innate hastiness that we too often suffer from. And as we are living in the “Now” generation, with fast foods, fast cars, drive through laundries, and marriages, and with every thing we need at our fingertips, it may seem archaic to wait upon God for any length of time.
Thus, the enemy of souls goes to work in protracted and ingenious ways, to take advantage of our fallen human nature, which is too often in a rush to do the things we deem important. Hastiness in any matter is a recipe for disaster, and especially when it comes to the fulfillment of God’s promises, we should not set any deadlines for God, “Or else”.
When dealing with God, we must avoid giving Him deadlines, ultimatums, or specific time frames that we stipulate He should work within. God is Superior and we are His subordinates as far as rank goes, and thus, we are to defer to His timings, His judgements, and His assessments in all matters, for The Lord is never early, and He is never late.
Even though God dwells in eternity, He is able to make intrusions into the human experience with surgical accuracy, to the milli second if needs be. So then, we are not to buy into the doctrines of devils that says God takes too long to do this or that.
Waiting upon God should be an open-ended wait, giving Him deference to do that which He will do in His own time and way. For instance, when Jesus bids us knock and it shall be opened, He does not specify how many times we should knock. In fact, the form of the verb strongly suggests that folks should keep on knocking until it’s a Yes, a No, or a Wait.
But for us to stipulate by 3:00 pm on Thursday this week or else, will not only set the stage for a variety of temptations, it could also set persons up for the oft disappointments that shake our faith in God. The following three examples are to be studied carefully, with the intention of learning from the mistakes of those who have gone before.
[1] The impatience of the saints at Mt. Sinai.
Exodus 24:12 And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will you tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
That phrase: “And be there” refers to an open-ended time frame, as far as the human agent Moses is concerned. He is not to rush God in any way, he is not to carry his watch, or Fitbit with him, checking the time ever so often as some persons might do during divine hour.
Moses must “Be there” for as long as it takes, as he waits upon God to determine his length of stay on the mount. Some of us have very difficult lessons to learn, before the time of trial comes upon the world because, in Revelation 14, it speaks of the patience of the saints.
But in some instances, our own experiences may be described as “here is the impatience of the saints”. Moses and Joshua then depart for the Mount, and the people are left under the jurisdiction of Aaron and Hur, if any matters of concern should arise, and need redress. Let’s read:
Exodus 24:14 And he said unto the elders, wait here for us until we come again to you and behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
And the people wait, and they wait and they wait. One day passes, two days, three days, and four days elapse, with no sign of Moses. Yet they all continue waiting, the fifth day, the sixth day, and finally the seventh day comes around, and still no sign or word from either God or Moses.
The sermon for that first Sabbath without Moses would have to be done by Aaron, and after vespers the people hang around, questioning when Moses will be back for duty. The second week passes and still not a word or a sign from either God or Moses.
At this point, persons are beginning to get jittery, and some are wondering if the glory of God might have consumed him in the mount, and yet, against all odds they continue waiting.
Three weeks elapse, and the people are questioning with Aaron about Moses’ whereabouts, but Aaron himself is lost for words, or explanations, nor can he give them a specific time frame, or even an E.T.A
The people begin to get impatient, for they are not hearing from God, they are not getting any answers from Aaron, and the suggestion begins to surface that it might be that Moses has abandoned them all in the wilderness. In this frame of mind, the people are now ripe for one of satan’s favorite temptations, for he suggests to them that God is taking too long.
And thus, if they cannot hear from God or Moses in what they deem to be a reasonable period of time, then they would look for alternative leadership. The idolatry which then followed was satan’s version of an alternative, which will always involve some form of disobedience.
Whenever we may find ourselves becoming upset or impatient with God we must then be on the lookout for alternative suggestions coming from devils, and/ or men, which invariably would include a sinful act.
Impatience and hastiness are a breeding ground for temptations and sins which would not seem feasible under more favorable circumstances. A counterfeit worship as that which took place at the base of Mt. Sinai, is always satan’s suggested alternative when there is a perceived vacuum of godly leadership.
Question: How long is too long? To strictly rational thinking minds, three to four weeks at the most, are more than sufficient, for the people to at least have some guidance as to time frame.
But with no end in sight to their weeks long waiting, the suggestions of the enemy begin to make sense, and what follows next is just a microcosm of what has been repeated all too often in the experiences of many persons.
Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him.
The multitude in this instance demonstrated clearly that they were looking to mere mortal man as their leader, which is one of the gravest mistakes that any Christian could make. If Moses is not present for any length of time, that fact should not in any way be a cause for stumbling, if one’s personal relationship with God is intact. Let’s read:
Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
The time is coming, when general conferences, and church leadership as we have known it for years will be dissolved. Your local church will be shuttered and the nurturing, caring pastoral roles would absolutely be evaporated, and then, when the carpet is pulled from under our feet how shall we stand in that great day?
The recent pandemic, even Covid, with his relatives was just a wake-up call, or a test run as it were, for during those days, many persons found themselves destitute of that deep, meaningful relationship with Christ which is necessary to carry persons through, when the going gets rough.
And as members waited and waited for guidance on the matter at hand, faith, and enthusiasm began to wane, and in some cases, some churches and some church members haven’t yet been able to find back their groove. In fact, during those long months of waiting, over 7000 churches closed permanently in the U.S.
During Covid, when church activities had virtually ground to a halt, where there were no longer those Sabbath school classes with individual teachers who you knew, where concerts were eliminated, and the Pathfinders club couldn’t meet, or go camping as in normal times, the faith of some persons was then severely shaken, and some have not yet recovered.
The truth of the matter is that if Moses were never to return from the mountain, that fact should not be a catalyst for deteriorating change in one’s personal relationship with God, because our relationship with Him should never be tethered through mortal man.
And so, we see that because the Hebrews thought that God was taking too long with Moses, the minds of the people became ripe for the floodgates of sin and temptation to bear sway in that episode.
[2] The impatience of the saints in Abraham and Sarah.
In the instance with Abraham and Sarah, God had promised them a son, but He did not specify a time frame so that their expectation could converge with reality. They were to wait on God, and in the fulness of time, the promise would be materialized.
And like the Hebrews at Mt. Sinai, they begin to wait and they wait and they wait and they wait. One year passes, two years and then three, and still no sign of a son. Four years elapse, five years, six years, and still nothing is happening.
Sometimes we may think that God has forgotten His promise because it may seem to us that after He has given His word He should follow through right away. And with this finite frame of mind, we cannot see or understand what the delay is about.
The fact of the matter is that there really wasn’t any delay. God wasn’t deliberately pushing their faith to the limits to prove any point, because he does not need to. In God’s planning, everything is done and is executed with surgical precision, but we may not be able to discern all the pieces of the jig saw puzzle up front.
Isaac, who would be the son of a miracle, was to be one of the progenitors of Christ, and therefore, the timing of his birth would have serious consequences downstream. In other words, Isaac’s birth would not only affect the time Christ’s birth, it would also have a direct impact on the future prophecies of Daniel.
And all of the subsequent progenitors in between would be also directly affected in the stream of time if Isaac was to be born one day earlier, or one day later. The timing of his birth brought a multitude of other factors into play, for it would affect the 2300- day prophecy we so often like to refer to. It would also affect the date of the exodus from Egypt.
Rebekah, who was to be Isaac’s future wife must be in place, so that when Abraham and Isaac prayed to God for a wife, she would just happen to be there at the well in the nick of time.
If Isaac was to be brought upon the stage of action some years ahead of his time, the perfect wife God was preparing for him would only be a little girl at the time he would be looking for a wife.
All of these factors are brought into the equation in God’s planning, and therefore, for us mortals to be in a haste, or try to hurry up God, will actually be an attempt to alter His perfect planning. After all was said and done, after all the supposed delay, Isaac’s birth was to culminate in the following verses. Let’s read:
Exodus 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
51 And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
The birth of Jesus Christ was executed with surgical precision, even to the millisecond. But in the interim Abraham and Sarah are losing patience, and like the Hebrews at the mount, they are tired of waiting and in this frame of mind, they become ripe candidates for temptation, which as we stated earlier, invariably would include suggestions to indulge in some sort of transgression. Let’s read:
Genesis 16:1 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
Observe her conclusions, that God has prevented her from bearing children. Which suggests that God changed His mind after making a promise to them. And thus, we must follow her line of reasoning to its logical end: If God has changed His mind, over what He has promised, then it is time for Sarah to take things into her own hands.
Brethren, believe it or not, this particular line of reasoning is very often adopted by us in our own experiences, and if persons were to look back in retrospect, we may see where we may have made very grave and regrettable mistakes by succumbing to the erroneous belief that God is taking too long.
What Sarah did next, triggered a tsunami of adverse circumstances, the repercussions of which are still being felt today, for by taking matters into their own hands, they actually messed up God’s perfect plan, and brought upon themselves untold, unnecessary misery which they lived to regret.
How often in our own experiences have we messed up God’s plan, by thinking that He takes too long? A male saint prays long and hard for a female wife. He fasts and he prays for months and years on end, he asks the elders to pray with and for him.
But somehow his dream girl just keeps eluding him. He visits other churches, he gets involved in singles ministries, and finally, in desperation, he asks for an anointing with oil, so that he may shake the blues of persistent loneliness, all the while he prays and he prays and he waits and waits.
One year passes, two years pass, three, four years. He is beginning to get desperate, because he has a strong urge to merge, but some way, somehow, it just seems as if God is not listening. So now, what is he supposed to do, because he has indeed followed the script, he has dotted the Is and crossed all of the Ts, but still no spouse.
He begins to think that it might be time for him to take matters into his own hands, for in his mind God is taking too long. Whenever the person in question reaches that threshold, he will become vulnerable to the devices of satan, who will undoubtedly begin to bring a plethora of alternatives that may seem to be the one.
But if he goes out on a limb like Sarah once did, and he integrates himself with someone of a different persuasion, he is almost certain to mess up God’s perfect plans for him. It is always best to wait it out, and in doing so, a firm concrete decision would have to be made, that come what may he would not read from a different script, no matter how long it takes.
That is what Abraham did when his servant Eliezer asked the following valid question as they mulled searching for a wife for Isaac: Let’s suppose I do find the perfect wife, but she is not willing to leave her hometown to marry Isaac, should I then bring Isaac back to meet her, or should I drop the prospect like a big stone? Let’s read:
Genesis 24: 5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence you came?
6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware, that you bring not my son thither again.
8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
In Sarah’s and Abraham’s case, God’s perfect plan did not originally include any cussing and fighting between two desperate housewives. Neither was it ever God’s intention, that Hagar and Ishmael should evicted and be put out on the street. Let’s read:
[Patriarchs And Prophets pp 145] Flattered with her new position as Abraham's wife and hoping to be the mother of the great nation to descend from him, Hagar became proud. Mutual jealousies disturbed the peace of the once happy home. Forced to listen to the complaints of both, Abraham vainly endeavored to restore harmony. Though it was at Sarah's entreaty that he had married Hagar, she now reproached him as the one at fault. She desired to banish her rival. Hagar's haughty spirit wouldn’t brook the harshness which her insolence had provoked. “When Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.”
But as God so often does, in His foreknowledge, He incorporates into His planning the mistakes that the human agents insert into His plans because we think He takes too long, and He tries to make the best of a bad situation, or hasty decision. It all has to do with that age old question that has to be reconciled in each and every mind: “Does God Take Too Long? Let’s read:
Genesis 16:3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
And the rest is history, for we are still witnessing the after effects of that one hasty decision, thousands of years after it was made!
[3] Impatience when looking to God for healing.
This one is huge, and it might touch a raw nerve in the human experience, for no one likes to wait for healing. When we are sick or bed ridden, our prayer to Jesus is usually: “Lord, get me out of here right now”. None of us in our right minds will like healing to be postponed, especially if it can be done right away.
And The God of heaven absolutely understands, for it is He who once caused to be written in His word “I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.”
Yet, there are times when we may have to wait on God, even as we are sick and tired of being sick. It is a fact that most of us would much rather prefer to be up and running, instead of being bed ridden, and in our expectations from God, we may be tempted to think that He is taking too long.
The fact of the matter is that even though we open up the floor for questions each Sabbath afternoon, there are times when we do not and cannot answer certain questions, because, we just do not know the answers for certain questions and situations. If any person tells you that they can figure out the reason why God does this or that every time, they are lying to you, plain and simple.
This is what transpired when Mary and Martha had sent an urgent message to Jesus, informing Him that His good friend Lazarus their brother was sick. What happens next should be studied closely, for it seems reasonable that Jesus should at once, set out on His journey to Martha’s house, to prevent Lazarus from dying.
But believe it or not, in God’s perfect plan, it was His will, that in this instance, Lazarus should die, and in all that Jesus would do next, and in all His empathy for Martha’s family, He must not mess up His own Father’s plan, by arriving on the scene too early.
In other words, if Christ arrived on the scene before the appointed time, Lazarus would not have died in His presence, and yes, Lazarus would be healed, but in doing so Jesus would have messed up God’s plan.
The following passages should be read prayerfully, with the understanding that God is never late, and never early. He plans and executes His plans with a surgical precision, that baffles intelligent minds, but in all and through it all, what He does, and how He does it is always the best way. Always! Let’s read:
John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he remained two days still in the same place where he was.
That deliberate delay would seem counterintuitive to the disciples, to Mary, and to any other person. In Lazarus’ mind, as he suffered on what turned out to be his death bed, he couldn’t fathom why on earth that urgent message given to Christ would not lead to a rapid response.
Then after two days Jesus decides to head out to Bethany, where Lazarus has already died. To mortal minds, going, after he died would make no sense, except to console the bereaved. But why the wait?
Thoughts begin to take shape in Mary and Martha’s minds, that if Jesus had not delayed, their brother would have been alive, and thus, as they mull over the whole situation over, they, like so many others are beginning to think that God takes too long. Let’s read:
John 11:7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless, let us go unto him.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died.
In other words, if you didn’t delay, if you had shown up on time, Lazarus would never have passed away. Like the Hebrews at the mount, and like Abraham and Sarah, we were waiting and waiting and waiting but we don’t like to wait in vain, as the Rastafarian once said. We are just wondering what Mary would say when she comes on the scene. Let’s read:
John 11:32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died.
Whenever persons come to the conclusion that God takes too long, satan is never far away, lurking in the shadows, seeking to strike at an opportune moment to do the most amount of damage to one’s faith.
In their frustration over Jesus’ supposed delay, their minds becomes ripe for a surgical strike of logical reasoning, which satan would now employ, to try if possible to throw a monkey wrench into the whole mix, and dissuade Christ from performing the most important miracle of His life on earth. Let’s read:
John 11: 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he is stinking, for he hath been dead four days.
[ The Desire of Ages pp 535] When the Lord is about to do a work, Satan moves upon someone to object. “Take ye away the stone,” Christ said. As far as possible, prepare the way for My work. But Martha's positive and ambitious nature asserts itself. She was unwilling that the decomposing body should be brought to view.
In all of the three examples given during our study the persons in question did wait for some length of time. The Hebrews waited, Abraham and Sarah also waited, and Mary and Martha also waited. The problem is that their waiting was premised on reasonable or specific time frames that they themselves had predetermined, or in Saul’s case, the stipulated time frame given by God had come and gone.
Since we were little children, we have been hearing for years that Jesus is coming soon. Doug Bachelor has preached it, E.E Cleveland has preached it, most of our pastors have preached it, and we ourselves have preached it. Some have come and gone, others are aging, and yet, for some reason it might seem to persons that there is a delay, and so, the question arises in many minds: “How soon is soon?”
Brethren, let us learn our lessons whilst we still can, as we study the mistakes of those who have gone before, who thought that God takes too long. As in former years, if we draw that conclusion, we would set ourselves up for a plethora of temptations of no ordinary character, especially as we’re approaching midnight in our earth’s history.
Many of us who believe in Jesus might not be ready for prime time, because when the issue of worship takes centerstage across the land, we will need one of the most important characteristics of our entire Christian experience to take us through, and that characteristic is patience. Let’s read:
Revelation 14: 12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
[The Great controversy pp 621] The season of distress and anguish before us will require a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger,—a faith that will not faint, though severely tried. The period of probation is granted to all to prepare for that time.
Let us therefore learn to wait upon God, because His ways, His timing, and His interventions in behalf of His people are always the best and always in the fullness of time. Thus, we will end with a passage of scripture that should help us to grasp the concept of waiting upon God, and at His appointed time, He’ll do whatsoever is best for us. Let’s read:
Hebrews 10: 35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
God Bless!