Productive Delay

Every Sunday I preach, I walk away feeling like there was more to say.  Yesterday's focus from Luke 8:40-56 was that the love and grace of Jesus are compatible with what will seem to us to be inexcusable delays.  That is, in this life, the children of God are called to wait.

Towards the end of the message, I focused on how in our waiting, God is preparing for us something bigger and greater than the thing we are waiting for.  Jairus was waiting on Jesus for the healing of his daughter.  Though the pain was excruciating, in the end he got something even better: a resurrection.

But here's something I didn't manage to squeeze in to yesterday's message.  In the words of Paul Tripp: "Waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait (which was my focus in yesterday's message)...Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait."  Or to put it another way: "Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan."

Tripp uses the following illustration to highlight his point:

"The next time God calls you wait, picture in your mind the nimble and skilled fingers of a potter, who's putting pressure on the clay right where it's needed, so that it will take on the beauty that is it's potential. And with this picture in mind, give thanks for the very moment that would have once have driven you crazy."

Check out this blog post from Tripp to read more about God's loving and wise purposes in His delays.  And if you like his reflection on Psalm 27:14, you may want to check out the book from which it comes, titled A Shelter in the Time of Storm.