Come on already

 

Come on already! Just this week I was impatient. On my way to the drive through after sitting through a concert that my grandson Daemien played in, some one pulled out in front of me and drove slowly... Come on, you Jackass! Then I get to McD's and the person in front of me takes forever to pay. After she pays, the attendant takes forever to take my money and the food takes forever to come to the window. Come on already!

There's a parable in the book of Luke about a poor lady that wanted a judge to give her justice against her opponent.  This judge didn't really care about God or the people. The woman was probably poor and didn't have any power to hold over the judge, so she pesters the crap out of the judge so much and so many times that the judge finally grants her request.

So what do the above two paragraphs have in common for me? I think God has a message for me here, and maybe it applies to you as well. That's up to you. But here is what I gather:

Before God I hope and desire to be faithful, true, and honest in the hope that God would keep me in his care. But then I realize that all that action of mine is a little screwy and backwards. God cares for me and loves me into being faithful, true and honest with him... he doesn't love me and care for me because I'm faithful, true and honest.

But kind of like this woman going to the judge, I go to God in prayer and ask and sometimes wrestle with God to help me and guide me and show me his will and his way for my life. I wrestle with God because I want answers!

But... I don't want to wait! Hurry it up God! Give me what I want! Fix this thing or that thing and tell me what to do or how to handle this or that situation.  Pick up the pace! Don't dart out in front of me and then slow down. Don't drive up to the window of my life and take forever to grant me what I want! Come on, God! I don't have forever, like you do!

So my prayer life goes. I go back and back and back for the same thing and no answer. I persist like the woman with the judge and bug the crap out of God. I don't give up and I persist.

And then through this little passage in Luke, I think about this woman and the judge and I also think about me and God.

God teaches me to be patient. In this patience God is making me persistent and more importantly creating in me faith. God is faithful. I hear the voice of God telling me that there is more to all of this than any request I may make.

God answers my prayer through a call to me to stop being in such a hurry. Listen and respond to the call. There IS after all this forever thing going on, that goes far beyond my persistent requests. God wants to hear from me over and over and over again. Through all this prayer, God is WITH me, God HEARS me, and God responds to me and my prayer requests.

And then,,,, beyond my persistent prayer requests and the constant requests of all God's people... a Kingdom is coming. A kingdom led by Jesus. A Kingdom of Jesus' faithful gathering together with Jesus. A Kingdom where Jesus IS faith. A persistent faith of the people from Jesus. A Kingdom in which the faithful don't give up and a Kingdom where all God's people respond to the call with the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to each and every one of God's faithful people. This is a Kingdom that comes to me and to you and to all who believe and have faith in that time when all will see Jesus face to face. Jesus comes... yesterday... today... tomorrow and will be forever.

Lord, may I be like that poor old lady. May I be persistent in my requests to you, knowing all along that, you give me faith in time, you have so much more in store for me than I could ever imagine.

God will answer prayer. In a way that is beyond any expectation I may have placed upon God. Believe it!

So, Billy... get off your high horse. Settle down. It's in God's time not yours... have a little faith will ya?

How about you? Can you relate to my situation here?