Monday, March 2, 2009

The Missing Link Called Wait

Many of us have read books, heard messages and attended seminars on the "how to" of becoming successful. It may have been to succeed in the faith, wealth creation or building better relationships. Yet oftentimes it seems as if there is a missing link. Like a huge gap from where I am at to the place of accomplishment. We learn the theories and principles. We get inspired and motivated. Yet after the workbooks are shelved next to last year's seminar material, we find ourselves unable to bridge the gap from here to there.
Ecc 6:12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
And for those that arrived at the place of "success", you have to ask yourself the question, "Has my success robbed me of my time, freedom and peace?" If it has, then what some call success, I call a counterfeit.
Pro 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Some people run their own business and generate lots of income but after they have paid the bills, made payroll, hassled with the legal expenses, taxes, licenses, etc., they end up with the same amount of money as someone who worked a good job without the headaches. They go home late because they own a glorified job. They have very little time or money to enjoy life and their families.
Isa 49:4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
So the question remains, what is the missing link? How do I get there? or how do I get back to wherever it was that I got lost? There is a simple universal law in place that works for anyone that will trust it and respect it's process. It's called seed, time and harvest. Everyone wants the harvest which is the end result. Some understand the seed which is the investment of time and resources. But few understand the little guy in the middle: Time.
Gen 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Time involves waiting. If you pull the seed or the budding plant prematurely, you will not get the harvest God intended for you. Sarah was impatient and resorted to her own devices and arranged for Hagar to sleep with Abraham which led to the birth of Ishmael, the father of the Arabs. To this day Ishmael's descendants ruthlessly war against the descendants of Isaac, the father of the Jews and second son of Abraham (Genesis 16,17,21).

You must master the art of waiting if you are going to obtain the promises of God. Many of us have birthed our own "Ishmaels" because we could not wait and now we have to live with consequences instead of the promises. But it is never too late. Abraham did eventually get his "Isaac" and so can you.
Lam 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
There are special things that happen when you learn to wait. We have never been taught that true riches are obtained in the waiting room of life. It prepares us with invaluable disciplines and unspeakable joy that had we not mastered it's timeless lessons, success would end up destroying us and some of us have been there and done that.