"Buffering. Please wait...."

      We've all impatiently waited for a streaming video to play while the notification on the computer screen or smartphone noted that it was "buffering..."  Infuriating, isn't it?  We wait without any option but waiting, except to abandon our quest to view the video which is promised just beyond the reach of “Buffering…”  We feel helpless and dependent on our computer and our connection, longing for a better signal that will give us the immediacy we demand.  No amount of begging, cajoling or complaining changes the wait.  Even refreshing the screen merely restarts our wait!  We demand that the computer bring us our visual entertainment, now!  We may have watched countless videos without wait, but if this one video refuses to flash forth its promised pleasure, then we are reduced to our complaining and passively waiting (or maybe an irritated call to customer service who helpfully offers no help at all because that's what they are paid to do!).  But the computer doesn’t care and our internet connection has no ears to hear or desire to come to our aid, regardless of the length of our wait or the loudness of our complaints.

      Waiting is not our strength.  We do not want to wait for anyone or anything, or at least I don’t.  I don’t want to be late. I don’t want to be dependent.  I don’t want to be delayed.   I don’t want to be in need.  But in God’s economy, my need is opportunity.  It is an opportunity for me to wait patiently and it is an opportunity for him to act graciously.   Patient waiting is belief in action, which is faith.  Patient waiting expresses the belief that what is coming will care for my present need and expresses dependence upon the one who delivers what is needed.   Waiting and faith go hand in hand for they are they are, in fact, made up of the same ingredients of knowledge, dependence and helplessness.  If you know that God is the source of your strength and the supply of your needs, then you wait.  If you cannot change your situation or alter your need, then on your own you are, in reality, dependent and helpless.  Depending on your situation and your personality, this may leave you feeling lonely, discouraged, depressed, angry, bitter....or all the above.

      However, the believer is not without hope for we have been instructed to “wait upon the Lord” with the expectation that on the other side of this “buffering” of grace is the pleasure of God’s rich supply (Psalm 24:14; 31:24; 37:7; 130:5; Isaiah 33:2) .  We wait because we know waiting to receive what God provides is far greater than moving forward depending on our strength.  Thankfully, we do not wait in passivity.  We actively wait as we confidently “draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  This active waiting avoids despair and it avoids the strange pride of the religious martyr who strives to impress God and others in his waiting.  Unlike the buffering video, there is something you can do in your waiting upon the Lord—seek  Him and all he provides in prayer.  He already knows you and your needs (Matthew 6:32-34; Luke 12:30-31) and will provide for all your needs according to his supply, which is unending and unaffected by connections and equipment!

      Do you want to hear an amazing truth?  The God who commands us to confidently approach him in our need to find mercy and grace is waiting to be gracious to you!  Isaiah 30:18 states,  “The LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”  God often waits to bless, for our waiting on Him rather than our self-willed persistence brings glory to him and puts us in position to recieve his mercy and grace.