Though always worthwhile, waiting on God can be one of the hardest things we ever have to do. In a culture where everything is available to us at DSL speeds, we aren’t accustomed to waiting for anything. Whether it’s microwave popcorn, lightning fast computers, or even simply turning on the light when you come into a room, we can usually get what we want fairly quickly and without much hassle.

Yet despite our “I want it now” mentality, God often calls us to slow down and wait upon Him. There’s no such thing as  “microwave Christianity!” We can’t expect to push a button and have God make everything perfect in less than 60 seconds. For that matter, we can’t expect Him to transform us into anything close to perfection in that amount of time either. No, the Christian walk would be better compared to a “crock-pot experience”, where we must patiently wait for His perfect will to be revealed, and His perfect plan to be accomplished.  As convenient as it would be if things were otherwise, convenience is not what God is seeking; He does things the right way, regardless of how much longer it might take.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but one downside to microwaves is that, when heating large items, their job is usually not very thorough. Despite it feeling warm on the outside, a few bites into your meal you realize it’s still half-frozen in the middle. In the same way, God undertook a huge task when He adopted us into His family. Yes, we’re forgiven of our past; but our future is still a work in progress. In fact, it’s such a large task that if God were to do things the quick and easy way, the job would end up only half-done. It would appear fine on the outside – but only on the outside.  That’s not what we want, and it’s certainly not what God wants.

Perhaps you’ve been waiting on God for a long time. You’ve prayed, and you’ve prayed, and you’ve prayed, but nothing happens. If this is you, just remember that God is still there. He’s always been there. He’s just making sure that, when all is said and done, everything will have worked together to accomplish His perfect will in your life (Romans 8:28).