I touched on this point yesterday, but I think it needs further examination. Along with our pragmatism, we suffer from a lack of patience. An unwillingness to wait on the Lord. Whereas the oft-repeated biblical cry is “How long?”, I fear that the modern church tends to say, “That’s too long… we’ll take care of it ourselves.”
Throughout the Bible, God acted on His timetable, not man’s. Even godly men like Abraham got impatient and tried to take things into their own hands, but their continued faith in the face of a time of waiting is a big part of what makes them great.
Four centuries in slavery in Egypt. That’s a long time.
When God would punish his people through foreign occupation, this would often be for decades at a time.
When bad kings ruled over God’s people, they sometimes did so for very long periods of time. One of the worst kings was Manasseh, and he ruled for 55-years!
We could go on and on, looking at the length of the captivity in Babylon, the time before the coming of the Messiah, even the amount of time that Jesus waited before beginning his ministry. It starts in Genesis and goes all the way through Revelation.
Revelation promises God’s victory over Rome as a consolation to the persecuted church; that victory came centuries later. Christians suffered. Christians died. Bad people ruled, good people were oppressed. Horrors were inflicted on entire nations. And God waited hundreds of years to act.
I don’t know that we’re willing to wait that long. Especially those of us who live in young countries. When your nation has only existed for 200 years or so, waiting 40-50 years for God to act seems like a lot to ask. Frankly, waiting years or even months seems like too much.
And so we say, “It’s not practical. It just won’t work.” What we should be saying is, “I’m don’t trust enough in God to wait.”
Could it be that many are impatient because they are functional deists?
I also think this has something to do with the dominant view of suffering in our culture. There is no tolerance for any suffering and much money is spent to bring immediate relief to such suffering, often without thinking of the long-term ramifications. Whereas while in scripture suffering is never portrayed as something glamorous that we should desire, it is able to see God at work in our suffering and thereby extend redemptive value to suffering.
Grace and Peace,
Rex
Impatience or a deep desire to see the hand of God in action? Sometimes, that’s a tough call.
I firmly believe a part of our daily prayers should echo the exclamation of the man in Mark 9:24. “I believe; help my unbelief!” [Πιστεύω: βοήθει μου τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ.] – Notice this is an imperative towards Jesus. We need to demand His power in things like this.
Grace be with you –
Jr
I’ve been reflecting on this same dynamic in my own life regarding employment – there is an element where I want to trust God to work in his time what his will is and there is an element where I want to take things into my own hands. Thannks for the biblical reminder that faith is messy and that God’s timetable may not be the same as mine.
Tim,
i gather that a lot of modern day church growth strategies are based on just this kind of impatience.
–guy
In my line of work I am considered a problem solver. I don’t sit on a problem and expect it to go away. When confronted, I weigh the options and make a decision.
In all my life I have never waited on answered prayer. The apostle Paul says, pray with out ceasing. I am thankful for what I have. I really don’t look for blessings to come my way ever. My blessings are laid up for me as heavenly blessings. We all need to be aware of this. I read a book a long time ago entitled “The Silence of God” by Sir Robert Anderson. I think it places a perspective in how God deals with us in this age of grace…..
heavenbound: Miss you on the Sermon on the Mount thread.