My poor sister and her husband have been through the ringer trying to adopt a baby boy from Ethiopia. The three year rollercoaster decided to give us all whiplash these final weeks with delays, communication problems, breakthroughs, set backs, and then finally victory (although we'll all feel better when he is on US soil!). Why is doing a great thing so difficult? Why doesn't God make it easy to follow his plan and save a life?
I think there are many books on the subject, but my favorite is the book of 2 Peter 3:7-9:
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: 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. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
The context here is the second coming of Christ, but it also applies to our relationship with him. It is not that God is slow, we are impatient, or God just likes to do things his way. He is teaching us, being patient with us, so that we may understand his will. It's we humans that make things take so long, because we are just slow learners. As a horribly impatient person myself, I believe the least patient of us learn the most slowly.
God's timing is perfect. We may never understand why it took so long to bring my nephew home, why some live long happy lives and others are cut short, or why Christ is taking so long to return. It is likely, I suppose, that the reason has something to do with what the Lord is trying to teach us. We are fixated with time, a concept that doesn't touch God. In the Bible and even today, it seems the one thing God rarely reveals is his timing; that is control we have to leave to him.
My challenge for us: let's open our eyes to what he is teaching us through his perfect, if somewhat difficult, timing. It may be the toughest test of our faith, but it also is the most valuable.
I think there are many books on the subject, but my favorite is the book of 2 Peter 3:7-9:
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: 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. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
The context here is the second coming of Christ, but it also applies to our relationship with him. It is not that God is slow, we are impatient, or God just likes to do things his way. He is teaching us, being patient with us, so that we may understand his will. It's we humans that make things take so long, because we are just slow learners. As a horribly impatient person myself, I believe the least patient of us learn the most slowly.
God's timing is perfect. We may never understand why it took so long to bring my nephew home, why some live long happy lives and others are cut short, or why Christ is taking so long to return. It is likely, I suppose, that the reason has something to do with what the Lord is trying to teach us. We are fixated with time, a concept that doesn't touch God. In the Bible and even today, it seems the one thing God rarely reveals is his timing; that is control we have to leave to him.
My challenge for us: let's open our eyes to what he is teaching us through his perfect, if somewhat difficult, timing. It may be the toughest test of our faith, but it also is the most valuable.
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