HUMMINGBIRD

We don’t really like to wait. We’re no good at it. I don’t know anyone who chooses waiting. If there is a long line or a short line at the grocery store, I don’t know anyone who says, “I’ll go with the long line because I need some quality waiting time.” If there is a green light, we don’t slow down and wait for the red so we can wait longer.

Problem is: God seems to make a living out of making us wait. And His perceived slowness often indicts Him, by our account, as uncaring or indifferent to what we're going through - because if He really loved us, He would have done something by now.

But the Bible says God is not slow concerning His promises as some understand slowness - but He is patient. Patient.

In other words, we think we’re waiting on God because He is slow, but in fact, God is waiting on us because He is patient. Do you see how that changes things? God isn’t slow; He’s patient.

And when we are waiting, we can wait with either a spirit of anticipation instead of a spirit of agitation. If you’re waiting in line at the DMV, I mean ... that’s just going to be aggravating, right? The longer you wait, the more aggravated you’re going to get. Why? Because of what you’re waiting on. But let’s say you’re waiting in line at an amusement park for a ride you want to go on. The longer you wait, getting closer and closer to that front seat of the roller coaster, the more excited you become, because you’re anticipating something. So it all depends on what you’re waiting on.

Isaiah put it this way ... ‘They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength; They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Isaiah says that is what happens when you wait on God.

Now the challenge is that many of us think we’re waiting on God, but we’re not. If you are exhausted, if you are agitated, there is a good chance you’re waiting on something other than God. If your strength is being renewed, it means you’re waiting on God.

So finances are tight. You say, “Well, I’m waiting on God to make the economy recover.” Are you? Are you waiting on God, or are you waiting on the economy to recover?

Maybe you’re single; you want to be married. You say, “I’m waiting on God to send someone special into my life.” Are you waiting on God? Or are you waiting on someone special to walk into your life?

I’m just asking ... but do you see what I’m asking? Often we say we’re waiting on God but we’re really waiting on whatever it is we want God to do. And when we’re waiting on whatever it is we want God to do, that causes agitation and exhaustion and anxiety. But when we’re really waiting on God — a God who can be trusted, a God who sees the whole, a God who is patient — then our strength is renewed.

Then Isaiah says you will mount up on wings like eagles. The eagle has been clocked at soaring more than eighty miles an hour and Isaiah uses that as a picture. I don’t know that many of us resemble an eagle when we’re waiting. I think more accurately many of us would resemble probably a hummingbird. A hummingbird will flap its wings a hundred times a second. And the question you have to ask yourself is, “Are you flapping or are you soaring?” Flapper or soarer?

God’s timing is perfect - and He isn't slow. He's patient.

And be blessed.