Hebrews 6:15
Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.
I started out my doctor visit by waiting in the waiting room. Boy, did they name that place correctly. There was some horrible home show on the TV with some guy blowing a whistle and screaming about auctions. I don't know why he was blowing the whistle but I already had made plans about what I would do with it if he blew it one more time. I got to hear the conversation of the couple ten feet away, and now I know more about a stranger's gastrointestinal maladies and trouble with his bathroom functions than I want or need to. I'm going to file that nugget under, "Things you can't unhear."
A smiling nurse told me it would be a couple of minutes before the doctor would see me. She was sweet, attractive, and lied through her teeth. I’ve been here a couple of dozen minutes so far, with no end in sight.
In case you hadn't figured it out, I'm not very good at waiting. In fact, I hate it. I am, by nature, a pretty impatient guy. My wife knows that if we are in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I am going to whine, complain, and plot the mass destruction of just about everybody on the freeway.
Like I said, I’m not patient!
In today’s verse Abraham had received God’s promise that God would bless him and grow his descendants beyond measure. Abraham received the prophecy, then waited. He waited quite a while, too, at least 25 years. Abraham knew that God was faithful, so he waited. He made some missteps (that whole Ishmael business), and it couldn’t have been easy, but he waited.
What has God promised us? Peace, joy, wisdom, guidance, and eventually, heaven, just to name a few. And, like Abraham, we can sometimes try to work out things on our own. And, like Abraham, we find out that doing things our way is nowhere near as good as doing things God’s way.
So we wait. Make no mistake about it, we have a job to do while we wait. Our neighborhoods are full of people who aren’t waiting for God’s promises because they’ve never heard them. That’s where we come in. It’s easier to wait when you are busy doing God stuff!
Today’s Readings: Hebrews 5-8
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