Microwaveable Religion

Let's say you have been stranded on an island and have not had access to food for quite some time. (I have been watching way too much Gilligan's Island with my family lately.) You are starving! Would you: a.) Want to wait 1-2 hours for a home cooked meal? or b.) Opt for a TV dinner that will be ready for you in less than 5 minutes? Some of you may say, "I've been stranded for a long time, so I can wait a few hours for a wonderful meal." Kudos to you. God has sincerely blessed you with the gift of patience. If you are like myself, you are so hungry you will give in to the halfway good dinner that you can just microwave right away. Now by all means, you can cook that home cooked meal, and I'll eat it once it is ready! (If this is you, don't be ashamed because this is also myself.) It's how society is changing. We want instant everything. Songs should download in under 10 seconds. Dinner should be ready in under 5 minutes. Our drive home from work needs to be as fast as possible with the fewest inconveniences. Phone service should be faster than light so we can check Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snap Chat, etc. ASAP. Unfortunately, we have allowed this insta-life to roll over into our spiritual life. We want a, what I call, "microwaveable religion." We want our relationship with God to be faster than AT&T and Verizon combined. When we text Him, He needs to respond in under a minute with the answer we want. Sometimes He might respond back fast, but it isn't the answer we want. God gives us three answers when we ask of Him: 1.) Yes, 2.) No, and 3.) Just keep waiting. Yes is the answer we always want to hear. No is sometimes like a hard pill to swallow, but we can usually come to accept God's plan. (After all, He knows us better than we know ourselves.) The hardest answer for us to hear is "just keep waiting." If you can handle waiting, that is so awesome! But, there were so many amazing people in the Bible who struggled with waiting on God's timing or following His Will in His time.

Abraham & Sarah
Abraham and Sarah were getting old in their ages when God made a promise to Abraham that he just couldn't fathom happening. God told Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation. I am sure Abraham was thinking, "Lord, you are crazy because Sarah and I are getting older and have no children!" But God promised Abraham a son despite Abraham's disbelief. Sarah laughed at this because let's just say she was far beyond the 35+ age of having children. In modern day, they would be getting letters everyday about joining AARP and investing in Life Insurance. They took matters into their own hands, and Abraham became the father of Ishmael through their servant Hagar. While their intentions may have been good in trying to answer God's promise, this created more problems than before. Sarah grew to be jealous of the relationship Abraham had with Hagar and Ishmael. It became so bad that Abraham sent them away to make his wife happy. (This is why Arabs nations and Israel nations have constantly had feuds.) Eventually, Abraham and Sarah were prepared for the promised son, Isaac.

Moses
Moses was a Hebrew, and when the Pharaoh went around killing young Hebrew boys, Moses' mother wrapped him up and sent him down the river where his sister watched him be pulled in by Pharaoh's wife. Because he was Hebrew, she asked for a Hebrew to take care of him in his young age before living with her and the Pharaoh, so Moses' mother was able to keep him a little longer. Anyways, Moses grew up Egyptian, but always felt different. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, and he felt that it was God's timing to act then. Well, Moses was trying to do the right thing, but his maturity with the Lord was not fully developed. He spent the next 40 years in the wilderness caring for sheep while God prepared him to free His people to the Promise Land.

Another instance of Moses impatience, after walking through the Red Sea and being deserted for quite awhile. Many of the Hebrews were grumbling and complaining about the lack of food and water. Moses was frustrated and took the complaints to God. God gave him an answer of what to do, but Moses did things his own way and cost Moses all of the blessings he was promised to receive from the Promise Land.

Lessons Learned
Only God can answer His promises. When we try to take His work away from Him and take matters into our own hands, to say it bluntly, we will mess it up. We are human. We sin. Simple as that. God is perfect, and His plans are perfect for us. We struggle trusting the unknown, but if you take a look at history with God, it has repeated itself and proves to be pretty good when we follow God's plan. God knows we are impatient and will give us test that He knows we can handle. Sometimes we just have to prove that we can handle the small tests before He gives us the final exam.

As for me, I have been struggling to figure out what God wants me to do in a few situations I have going on in my life right now. I want that instant answer, whether it be yes or no. But maybe God just wants me to wait. Maybe He has bigger and better plans for me that I do not know about yet, and He is preparing me now for them. It is hard to wait, but God never said we have to wait alone. We are to put our trust in Him. We are to talk to Him about everything. Whenever you have a problem, you usually seek advice from your most loyal and trusted family and friends. Why don't we seek God in the same way and stop trying to do so much on our own? Sometimes God may lead you to a person who will guide you and maybe He has a different plan in store. The same goes when good things happen. When someone does something good for us (such as a family member giving you money for your birthday which is just the right amount you needed to make your loan payment), we truly thank them. Shouldn't we be thanking God as well? When good things happen to use, we usually tell our family and best friends to share the joy. God loves when we share our happiness with Him. After all, He is our Father and loves us in good times and bad times. Ultimately, we (and I am including myself here) have to take a deep breath and know that our life is in His hands and that we can find comfort in Him while we wait.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. -Romans 8:25
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act... - Psalms 37:7
For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. -James 1:3