Hurry up & wait!

I'm not by nature a person who likes to wait. I HATE being late for anything. I'd rather be an hour early than 5 minutes late. I'm not patient when it comes to God either. I wish He would answer my prayers when I want.

I was studying Genesis 40-41 on Joseph & after he was put in jail for something he didn't do. If that wasn't bad enough, God used Joseph to interpret the dreams of two of Pharaohs servants in jail. After Joseph gave a correct interpretation of the cubbearer, I'm certain Joseph was expecting to be out of jail within a few days if not a few weeks. But Joseph was stuck in jail waiting for 2 more years before the cupbearer remembered Joseph.

I can't imagine the despair that Joseph must have felt. I wonder if he thought God had forgotten him. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, wrongly accused of advances on his boss's wife & now forgotten after he did a giant favor.

I've never been in jail or had hardships anywhere near what Joseph endured. But I have been wrongly accused. I've been forgotten. I've wondered why God has answered my prayers. But He did answered my prayers just not like I wanted Him to. My lack of patience has caused undo worry & probably delayed in learning what God  was trying to teach me.

I think too many of us who follow Jesus want a magic Jeanie or instant answers. That isn't how God works. He is more interested in our development than our wants. That's not easy to do for many of us.  I encounter people who give up on God because they feel He has given up on them. The truth is God cares too much about us to give up on us. He just has something He is trying to teach us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were facing being thrown in a firery furnace. They believed God was going to save them. But they said "even if He does not" they would still worship God. I wonder if we truly live that way today?