You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
Hebrews 10:36-38
Nobody, and I mean nobody likes people that cut in line. You know exactly who those people are. For some reason, they think that they deserve a better life than the rest of us poor slobs. They’ve earned the right to walk around all the “other people” and go directly to the front of the line.
Whether it’s waiting in line to check out at the grocery store, or to pick up a prescription, these people feel like they’re entitled to jump directly to the front. They don’t have to do what everyone else does. They’re special, not like the rest of us normal people.
Some of my most memorable examples of people that deserved not to wait in line happens while driving. These are the people who pull out of line and drive on the shoulder so they can get to where they’re going. The more deserving of these people will drive on the grass to show the rest of us just how important they are.
The other day I was sitting in traffic when a motorcycle whizzed by all the traffic. They were using their smaller size to fit between the left lane and the guard rail. I won’t repeat what I muttered to myself as they flew by the rest of us poor people that were forced to wait.
But then, something great happened. Justice arrived in the form of a State Trooper who was parked on the side of the road. When I inched next to where the officer was scolding the motorcycle driver as they wrote out a ticket, I saluted the officer and gave them a thumbs-up for a job well done.
Sometimes in life, we just have to wait our turn. I didn’t say it was going to be fun or that we were supposed to enjoy it. As a matter of fact, it can just be downright maddening and frustrating. We think it’s just a gigantic waste of time. That nothing’s going on while we just sit there.
And this is exactly where the Hebrews were. They grew up with priests making sacrifices over and over again. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. That was their past. Now, they learned all about Jesus’ one-time sacrifice on the cross that paid for all their sins: past, present, and future.
So, they have a choice to make. Are they going to trust in the sacrifices they had to make all the time, or were they going to trust in God’s one-time sacrifice that he made for them?
Now, to me, that doesn’t sound like much of a decision. Having God do it one time for me certainly sounds like a much better deal. It takes all the pressure off. It’s no longer up to me because God already took care of it. It’s a no brainer from where I sit.
But it’s more complicated than that. To show that we’re trusting in God’s sacrifice, sometimes we have to be willing to wait. Wait our turn till God visibly delivers on his promise in the future. Sometimes we have to wait for his promise to show up. Sometimes we need to be patient because God’s doing something that we don’t see. Something we don’t understand.
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
Habakkuk 2:3
While this promise is comforting, at the same time it’s frustrating. Why? Because we really don’t like to wait. Wait for anything. It doesn’t matter what’s at the end, we’d rather take a punch to the gut than have to wait.
And why? Because we’ve earned it. Because we want it, and we want it now. Because we deserve it, and we deserve it now. We live with the belief deep down in our soul that we’re worth so very much. And this means that we deserve everything, and we deserve it immediately.
This idea of waiting is for losers. You know who they are. They have a great big “L” on their forehead. Bumper stickers are on their car, announcing to the world that they’re losers. They’re not as smart or popular as we are. We’re the “winners” and they’re the losers.
But, waiting has its rewards. Waiting can pay big dividends. If we don’t wait, bread will never rise. If we don’t wait, our savings and stocks won’t grow. If we don’t wait, we’ll never eat another tomato. If we don’t wait, we’ll eat nothing but raw meat and seafood. If we don’t wait, we’ll never move into our new house.
When we wait, we will persevere. And the word persevere tells us what it means. When we persevere, we’re going through a time that’s severe. A time that’s painful. A time that’s full of pressure. So, are will willing to stay under whatever’s causing the pressure or pain? Waiting for God’s great and wonderful fulfillment of his promises to us. And we’ll look back and be thankful that we were patient. That we waited.
Noodling Questions
Describe the longest wait of your life. What made it so long and painful?
How can we become better at waiting on God? Waiting for God?
What’s the secret for staying under severe pressure? Explain.
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