The Waiting Room.

I was reading this morning a book titled Let. It. Go. by Karen Ehman. She was talking in there about the world we live in today, and how fast and simple everything is. Our food can go from the freezer to our mouths in five minutes using the invention of a microwave. We can get from D.C. to Addis Ababa in a mere 17 hours. The fads in cookbooks are "Easy 5-ingredient Meals" and "Meals in Less Than 30 Minutes." Our culture now is such a get-up-and-go, get-everything-done-in-record-time, stay-in-the-fast-lane type of culture.

"It's a hurry up world. And my days go flying by." -Rebecca St. James

But is that how God operates? When mapping out his plans, does He constantly check for ways to eliminate time waste? As our Father, does he act like the father in Cheaper By The Dozen(I'm talking the original book) and remind us to eliminate wasted moments by buttoning our vests from the bottom up? When He begins to show us His plan for our live, does He just let us go to accomplish it as fast as we possibly can and then come back to Him and go "What next, Lord?"

I don't think so. I mean sure the Bible talks about spending our time wisely, as our days are short. But it also says in multiple places "Be still and know that I am God." There are multiple stories in the Bible where God caused a waiting period in people's lives. A prime example of this is the Israelite people. They had a long waiting period in Egypt. They had a long waiting period in the desert. And they had a really long waiting period for the fulfillment of all those prophecies by Isaiah and his buds.

I think there are many times where God sticks us in the waiting room. Ugh, that annoying waiting room with nothing more interesting than the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. For me, the hardest part of following God's plan is also following His timing.

"You want me to go across seas and live with bugs? Ok, Lord! You want me to submit to my annoying brothers and not nag them. Ok, Lord! You want me to lose multiple hours of sleep in order to help a friend. Ok, Lord! Wait, you want me to wait patiently for You to give me an answer in this area. Uh, sorry. No can do."

Not to say that I am perfect in every area other than timing; far from it. But that is where I struggle most. God time and time again has placed me in that intolerable waiting room. So do I sit and wait patiently in the chair until my name is called? Umm....

Ok, I'll be honest. God puts me in the waiting room, and I plop down in a chair trying not to sigh. After a couple of minutes my fingers start to tap on the arm rest. Then a couple minutes later my feet begins to tap impatiently on the floor. Then I huff and pick up a magazine to peruse. Quickly getting bored, I slap the magazine down, and start humming obnoxiously to entertain myself. Fed up with that I stand up and start pacing, my frustration building and my hands starting to wave in the air as I gesture dramatically. Now thoroughly annoyed with this waiting thing, I plop down in my chair, tear paper and pen out of my purse, and start scribbling down what I am going to do as soon as I get out of the waiting room. Yes, waiting is not my thing.

But hold on. God put me there for a reason. Unlike those rude doctors who fill their schedules so full that their patients have to wait a long time, God actually has a good reason for putting me in that room. Sometimes neatly tucked under that magazine is His word. Sometimes He is saying "Wait. Pause from your busy life, and get to know Me. Open my word, and delve into it's depths. I have placed you here so that you can find Me in the stillness. Be still, and know that I am God."

Oh. Right. Why didn't I think of that before now. Silly me. Maybe if I wasn't so wrapped up in myself being bored of waiting, I would have seen the reason for my being there before.

Sometimes though, rather than being in a general waiting room, we are placed in the waiting room in one certain area. Since I was about 8 years old I felt like I was in an unending waiting room in the area of marriage. Someday I would get married, I hoped. But as I grew older, the wait just seemed too much. And because I wasn't willing to wait and see what God was doing in that period of waiting, I tried to get the ball rolling. And boy was that a mistake! Did it get me anywhere? Nope, it just left me with a wounded heart as I crawled back to God and went. "Ok, maybe I should listen to You next time you tell me to wait."

And that is a consistent battle with me. Every day something I think, do, or say indicates that I am not really willing to sit in the waiting room and be still as God works in me. Every day I have to go back to the throne of grace and go "God, please show me how to wait on your timing." And every day God places me back in that waiting chair, hands me His word and His wisdom and says. "Be still, daughter, and know that I am God."

Are you in a waiting room today? Do you resent being there? Have you gotten to the pacing or scribbling stage yet? If so, I understand where you are coming from. But I also know that if we could both learn to wait on the Lord, that He will strengthen and grow us, no matter how boring the decal in our waiting room might be.