On the way to the church office there's this two-lane highway that's a main link between communities.  And when they had to close one lane for a short-term road project, it created some delays for all of us tremendously patient people.  It was one of those projects where they set up a mobile traffic light--which changes from red to green every 5 minutes (or so it seems.)

All day long, red light, green light.  wait, go--wait, go.  On the way back from the office the other day, one driver in line was apparently short on patience and had had enough of waiting.  She decided to pass over to the right and drive through the tree lawn.  I couldn't belive what I was seeing!  As she rumbled to the right a dump truck backed up and swung out of a parking lot and...well let's just say it wasn't pretty. There wasn't an accident, but the truck blocked her and the driver had a few words and hand gestures for our entertainment as we waited for the light to change.

Moving ahead when you're supposed to be waiting can lead to a crash.  Just ask Moses.  He moved ahead when the light was red and the results were not good.

Acts7, beginning with verse 23, unfolds the story from a new Testament perspective.  Moses' people, the Jews, had been slaves to the Egyptian Pharaohs for many years.  God had miraculously spared Moses as a baby and arranged for him to be raised in Pharaoh's court.  The story picks up there.  "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites."  That day he witnessed a Jewish worker being mistreated by an Egyptian master.  And the Bible says, "He went to his defense...by killing the Egyptian."

The Bible goes on to explain, "Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not."  Ultimately, Moses had to flee to a remote wilderness where he spent the next forty years, until it was God's time for him to deliver his people.  What had been so wrong forty years before, was so right when it was God's plan and God's time.

Moses had the right idea.  He was supposed to deliver his people, but he couldn't wait for God to do it His way.  How many times have I made that mistake?  How many times have you?  Like Moses, we get impatient and we decide to go off-roading at a spiritual stop light--and neglect the leading of our Lord.  And like Moses, the result can be a crash.

There's something you've been waiting for God to do; to give you that person, a job, some financial relief, some love, some work for Him.  And it's not happening.  You're going to help God a little bit. You're going to figure out your own way to meet the need, to get it done now.  You're tempted to go because He's moving too slowly.  Don't!  You'll ruin it by trying to rush it.  You'll get the bill for your impatience instead of the will of God.

There may be nothing that has cost more people God's best than impatience.  We move so fast, we push so hard, we push right past God.  He will, as He promised, make everything beautiful "in His time".  (Ecclesiastes 3:11)  And it's not time yet.

If you're tired of waiting and you're revving your engine, ready to go off-road, get your foot off the accelerator.  You're about to ruin the beautiful thing God is putting together by moving ahead of Him.  Making something happen sooner is definitely not worth the pain.  Waiting for God to do it His way, in His time, is definitely worth the wait.

Sitting in spiritual traffic.

Art