Waiting is so hard. Sometimes it seems like God is late. We are in such a hurry and can get frustrated if things don’t happen quickly.

Recently I spoke with a pastor who was in the middle of a building renovation project. The project was going to cost more than they had anticipated. They were short some of the funds needed to complete the work. He went to the bank to fill out the necessary loan papers. When he finished filling out the papers, he asked them to hold off for a while on processing the loan. He told them that the church was going to pray. He even gave them a date of when he would be back. That date came and they still didn’t have the money that they needed but asked the bank to wait a little longer. Then it happened. Someone wrote a generous check that covered the whole shortfall. The pastor did what is so hard for many of us, he waited.

I heard a story about a young man who needed a car. He couldn’t afford one or the payments of a car loan. He prayed and waited, but then got anxious and went to a dealership. He found a car he liked and they arranged a loan for him. The problem was that he really couldn’t afford the payments. That Sunday after church he asked some people to come out and see his new car. Two men stood off at a distance. One said to the other, “I guess he won’t need my car now. I had an extra car that I was going to give him.” If he had waited a little longer he would have had his prayers answered with a free car.

When we think of Abram being told that he was going to have a son, he believed God, but then later got anxious when it didn’t happen. Rather than waiting for God’s plan to be fulfilled through his wife Sarai, he had a child with his wife’s maid, Hagar. It was a big mistake and caused a lot of problems. Genesis 16.

Waiting is hard. Sometimes we get anxious. Let’s pray and believe God. Let’s learn to wait so that we can receive God’s best, God’s way.

Mike Barres mbarres@dnet.net