“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:5
Fast food isn’t the only thing we want fast. We live in a fast everything world. Fast this. Fast that. We want everything fast, don’t we? Fast cars. Fast technology. Fast flights on vacations. Fast commutes to work. Fast customer service. Fast internet service. Fast lines at the food store. Fast answers to our questions. Fast athletes. Fast answers to our need for help. Fast help. Fast shipping for packages. Fast promotions. And, of course, fast answers to our prayers. Including, maybe even especially, when we pray for His will for us. Of course, He should tell us our whole futures, how everything will unfold, what will happen, what we need to do, where we’ll live, how things will turn out, what decisions we’re supposed to make now and for the next 20 years, the challenges we’ll face, how we’ll overcome them, whom we’ll meet, and, oh, yeah, how God will provide for us now, tomorrow, and, well, the rest of our lives. Now. He needs to tell us now. Right? We pray, and pray, for God’s will for us. Whether for something big, or small, for the future, or even for next week. Whatever it is, we want fast answers. Fast. Why won’t He answer – NOW?
If He doesn’t hurry, then we’ll rush ahead and make our decisions for ourselves. We’ll run the show. Without His counsel. Or His wisdom. Or His will. Without His plan. Or His purpose. Haven’t we waited long enough? Can’t God answer our cries quicker? Doesn’t He know our lives are speeding ahead – without Him? We need to get a move on, so off we go – without Him. Refusing to wait for Him. We’ve sought Him. We’ve prayed to Him. We’ve studied His Word. We’ve asked others for godly counsel. Or maybe we haven’t done all that. And need to. But still. We’ve prayed. But He’s not answering. So we take the reins into our own hands so we can control our lives and live according to our ways and desires.
But we don’t need the reins. We need to seek Him and His reign in our lives. And no matter how long we need to wait for Him to answer, for His Spirit to speak to our hearts through His Word and to lead us in His strength through the wisdom and direction He gives us, we need to wait. Yes, wait. Not rush ahead – without His leading. Wait. For Him.
But that’s exactly what some of us are refusing to do. To wait on the Lord. To wait for the Lord. To spend time with Him daily, to be in His word daily, to seek Him and His will daily – and to wait. How rebellious we are, how disobedient, and what a mess we make, when we fearfully, defiantly, desperately, impatiently, impulsively, proudly, whatever the sins in our hearts may be, move forward in our lives without waiting for the Lord to answer and to lead us by His Spirit. Is this message for you?