Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Instant is Too Slow

Genesis 6:5 – 7:6

We have ten minute oil changes, four minute microwave popcorn, three minute ATM transactions, and one minute news breaks.  Fast food has to be ready when we place our order or we begin to get impatient.  Any line longer than two people is intolerable.  Customer service representatives often hear the complaint, “I want it yesterday!”  Instant is too slow!

What a contrast God’s timetable is to ours.  From the time Noah was given the promise about the flood until the rain began to fall he had to wait a long time (perhaps as much as one-hundred and twenty years–compare Genesis 5:32, 6:3 and 7:6).  From the time the rain started until his family left the ark Noah waited another year inside the closed ark (compare Genesis 7:11 and 8:14).  Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son to be born.  The Israelites waited seven days for the walls of Jericho to fall.  We all have been waiting 2000+ years for the second coming of Christ.

Our problem is patience—or the lack thereof.  We don’t want to wait for anything.  We pray and if the answer isn’t on our doorstep within a day or two we give up.   But God works on a different timetable. “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

As Noah waited those many years for the first raindrop to fall, no doubt he was subject to times of doubt.  But he remained obedient to all God had told him (Genesis 7:5).  For God had promised and he took him at his word.  It was not a matter of if, but when.

What answers to prayer are you currently waiting for?  Does God seem to take intolerably long to answer?  Wait on God.  Don’t give up.  God will answer in his perfect timing.  “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised (Hebrews 10:36).

A Deeper Look

Psalm 37:7; Luke 18:1; Romans 8:25