Promise and Hope make our waits easier.
Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
No one likes to wait. We get antsy at red lights, inching forward as if our movement into the intersection will make the light go green. We doodle and strum our fingers or likewise try to occupy ourselves while we are on hold (and miss appreciating the beautiful elevator music!). We even pace in front of the microwave! The microwave, like our mumbling under our breath, “Come on, come on!” is going to make our food heat up faster. We seem to have forgotten that things take time but they do.
Good things especially take time to come about. Rewards take time to come to us. Heck, even bad things take time to pass. It all takes time. Obviously we hope for the good things to come sooner and the bad things to leave sooner but always we’re impatient for things to change. But what if we looked at the bad things knowing that they would pass? And what if we looked forward toward the good things knowing that they would come into being? What if we looked at today with hope, let go of yesterday and let the future be the future? It seems to me that Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome settles all that uncertainty with one three letter word: yet.
He says that if we hope for what we do not yet have (the promotion, the passing of the tough time with our health just to name one good and one bad thing) in that small word “yet” we can take comfort. We can take assurance that with God and with his guidance the things that we do not yet have, we will have. Furthermore we can pull off something that seems to be a lost art form, we can wait patiently. See, if we know something is just “yet” to happen we don’t have to worry and fret about when it will happen or in fact if it will happen. If it hasn’t happened we can be assured that someday it will happen and our patience soars.
So, my hope for you today is that “yet” will replace “if” in your life, that the confidence of your Father’s love for you will allow you to wait without anxiety. I hope that this assurance allows you to let go of yesterday, allow tomorrow to come as it will and go forth today in the peace of God.
The Everyday Question: What do you have trouble waiting for?
We all have trouble waiting. If someone in your life is having a particularly tough time right now with this and you think the above might help, please share this with them.
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