IMPATIENTLY WAITING

Man's ability to wait for things is rapidly becoming a lost art.  Every line one must endure is too long, and too slow.  Once a nation of readers, today newspapers and magazines are being replace by television and the computer. God forbid that we should have to wait like Joseph who waited many years before he saw his family again, Abraham who waited 25 years for his promised son, Moses who waited 40 years in exile, and another 40 wandering in the wilderness, or Jesus who waited until He was thirty before He began His earthly ministry!  If nothing else, the Jews ought to be experts at waiting.  They waited 400 years to be freed from Egyptian bondage, and 70 years to escape the Babylonian captivity.  And ironically, they are still waiting for their Messiah, even though He "arrived on the scene" nearly 2000 years ago! 

According to the Book of Daniel, one of the signs of the end times, or last days, will be man's lack of patience.  Daniel wrote, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (12:4).  Does that not describe society today?  It seems like no matter how much improvement is made on the speed of travel, or the speed with which we can find information, we are obsessed with doing things faster.  When one considers that up until just one hundred eighty years ago, with the availability of the steam locomotive for public transportation, the fastest method of getting from point A to point B, was on horseback.  Today, we have an Interstate System, with few drivers traveling at the posted speed limits.  Everyone is in a hurry.  

And, as for the increase in knowledge, if you don't know something, "Google it."  In 1936, the first freely programmable computer, the Z1, was invented.  Thirty-three years later, the first "internet" was created (ARPAnet), and in 1974, the first personal computers were available to consumers (IBM 5100).  Now, people carry around cell phones that have access to all the information one can find on a desktop computer at home. 

Today, those who still travel to work in a car or by using public transportation, rush home from work, throw a meal in the microwave, toss a load of dirty clothes into the washer, empty the dishwasher, use the remote to turn on the television, and then complain that they do not have enough time in the day to get everything done!  And, guessing by church attendance, the vast majority of those professing to be Christians do not have the time to worship, study, and fellowship with other believers either!  Amazing, in that, patience (longsuffering in the KJV) is one of the characteristics of believers (Gal. 5:22).  I find it interesting that the word "patience" appears 34 times in the Bible; all are in the New Testament!  The Jews have learned patience; it is we who need to learn it.

Perhaps the closer we get to His return, the more we need to be patient!