Waiting: Even Jesus Did It

Seems like Spring is always a period of waiting for me. This week I have heard that word a lot. Sometimes I really don't like that answer. But currently, I am much happier to hear "wait" and not "no." There are several situations which my waiting is involved: job, relationships, future, etc.

While at our monthly "family dinner" (code for my group of friends who gather at least once a month at a friend's apt for dinner, fellowship, and movies), we did a devotion mainly because it is Good Friday. I really liked having the devotion first before we began the other activities and I hope I can encourage us to continue beginning with one. Anyway, during the devotion, I heard the word wait again but in a way I had never before. Have you ever stopped and thought about how many times God has waited throughout the Bible. Some of it was because he knew best and some because of human error. Granted some of these I have thought about before but tonight it all just hit in a new way. He waited so many years before even bringing Jesus to Earth. He waited until Jesus was 30 to start his ministry. He waited before sending Jesus back to Jerusalem. And what hit me most tonight...he waited three days before raising Jesus from the dead. Not because he did not have the power to snap his fingers and be done with it. But the all powerful God waited three days before overcoming sin. God waited! God is a God of waiting, or at least that is how it looks from our perspective. In reality, God is not waiting per say but his time is just much different from our own.

Here are two questions to think about: Why then does it surprise us when God asks us to wait? Why does it surprise us when sin takes us even longer to overcome? (this last question did not even hit me until I was writing just now).

Good Friday reminds us not only of the perfect Jesus taking our sins on the cross and dying for us but also another reminder of how different God's timing is compared to our own. Along with how much we need to trust his timing because he knows much more than we do. He is the author of time.

Just Wait!