Last night we were driving and saw a little fit of road rage when one car apparently pulled in front of another.  The back car blew his horn and sped up and followed within inches of the car who allegedly pulled out in “his space”.  The funny thing is:  there was a police officer sitting right there.  On came the flashing lights and pulled the “horn blower” over.  All he needed was a little patience and he could have avoided embarassment not to mention probably a $100 ticket for reckless driving!  And I bet the other guy laughed all the way home!

We are not a patient society.
We want computers to come on as soon as we push the button.
We want to walk right up to the counter to get our prescription with no wait.
We don’t want to take a number at the BMV.
We want to see the numbers on the scale go down WHILE WE STAND ON IT!
We want to hit all traffic lights green.
We want God to listen, hit a button and make it happen NOW!

Sometimes our impatience is actually funny when you think about it.  We drop off our spouse at the door of the restaurant and tell them to hurry up and put our name in before the party of 6 walking in from the parking lot get there.

Have you ever thought that the God of all “Air Traffic Controllers” is sitting in the sky looking down and orchestrating every little delay trying to protect you.

*Maybe you got behind the slow semi driver because there was a deer crossing the road ahead and God wanted to protect you from hitting it.
*Maybe you had to wait in line at the pharmacy because a new person had messed up your medicine and fortunately the pharmacist saw the mistake and corrected it.
*Maybe having to wait for months or years on answers from God is because He is preparing US and OUR hearts for something beautiful that is to come.

It’s like the CHEEZ-IT commercial where the guy checks the cheese and it is very “immature” and it “talks back to him in baby talk” and he says, “this one is not mature yet.  We need to let it sit a while.”  God knows the answers.  He is having you wait because you are not ready for what is to come.  You are not ripe yet.

We don’t want to ask for patience because then we have to go through trials to obtain patience and we don’t want that.  But we have to go through the trials to develop the perseverence and patience to be ready for the next step God has for us.  And He has some beautiful things waiting.  We just have to be ready for them so we can really enjoy them.  (James 1:2-4).

Galatians 5:22 says that Patience is a fruit of the Spirit.  When we show patience, we show God living in us.  So the next time you are waiting in line, caught in traffic or begging God to hurry up and give you an answer, start praying and thanking God for preparing you and making you ripe for the harvest of good things to come!

Stop rolling your eyes………………just be patient!