Jesusluvsall's Blog

In all honesty, long lines bother me. Especially if I am in the express check out. I don’t like waiting. It seems inevitable that the line I choose at the store because it seems it will be quicker, ends up taking too long for whatever reason. I am a typical American when I am in America. We don’t like to wait. We expect good service. And traffic? Waiting in traffic? That is a nightmare for some people.

For some reason, when I am in another country or spending time with another culture, waiting doesn’t bother me. I will never forget the time I was in Constanta Romania in 1998 and I went with a Romanian friend when he paid his electric bill. We took on bus to a stop to get on another bus. It took us 45 minutes to get to the place to pay the bill. At the place we stood in line for about 20 minutes for him to pay the bill. When he paid the bill, we had to go to the other line to give the receipt to show he paid. We stood in that line for about another 20 minutes. Add 45 more minutes to get back to his place, and it took almost two hours just to pay one bill. But it didn’t bother me. I didn’t have my ‘American’ hat on so to speak. I was relaxed and enjoying time with my friend. I imagine the thought of taking 2 hours to pay one bill would drive many of my American friends crazy.

So when we hear a verse such as Isaiah 40:31:

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint”

what do we think of?

Do we think of waiting for God to do something while we stand in line? God is eternal. He can handle trillions of requests at one time. God isn’t too busy. God isn’t inefficient. He knows what he is doing. The verse is not simply talking about waiting for God to do something.

When we wait on the Lord, he wants us to spend time in his presence throughout the process. We place our hope in him and spend time with him. Being in his presence renews us. It isn’t simply waiting for him to act. It is staying in his presence and the response or answer will come in God’s perfect timing.

While we wait on him, we are with him. We receive new strength spiritually. Being in his presence encourages us.

Waiting on him involves trusting him and his timing and being with him while we wait.

Back to my time with my Romanian friend. I was enjoying my time with my friend, learning new words in Romanian, and laughing with him. It was fun. That is why I paid not attention to the time. I had no stress like I do sometimes when I have to wait in America.

Being with God, enjoying his company, learning from him, laughing with him. and embracing the time with him, can make the wait enjoyable and without stress. It is when we want to take it back into our hands that stress returns like stress returned for me when I came back from my time in Romania.

Dear reader please take time to be in his presence today. Enjoy fellowship with him.

Thank you for reading. God bless.