In the Waiting Room…

         A large part of my testimony takes place in God’s waiting room. I knew what I wanted to do when I was 7 years old and now, only a month shy of my 23rd birthday, nearly 16 years later, I’m finally getting a chance to do it. For a long time I was impatient and eventually I became angry and bitter towards God believing that I was not going to be allowed to do what I wanted to be involved in so badly. I tried to be useful while I lived my life with the phone on hold but everything I worked hard to accomplish was done in a controlling way. Each action that I took was meant to be impressive enough to make God speed up the process just a tad. I thought that if I was really good at doing stuff then maybe God wouldn’t mind letting me skip a couple of grades so I could get right to the main event. 

         But I was missing the point. Every day of my life and every season I pass through has something amazing and exciting to offer to me. After all God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called. I recieved a very clear call as a small child and, like a small child, I expected to tear into it right away. But like a child who is given a trust fund to pay for college I didn’t have immediate access to it. I had to wait until I was grown up and mature enough to make use of it. And, though it might not seem fair to an impatient child, hearing a call and not immediately receiving it can be a blessing. When you know what is available to you are able to remain focused on it as you grow up. You have a vision and a reason to aim for higher standards. 

         In the Bible David was annointed to be King of Israel as a boy but that didn’t mean that he was on the throne that evening ruling the country. After the prophet poured the annointing oil on his head and declared David King he sent David back out to tend to his sheep. In the years that followed David filled his days almost as he always had, he tended sheep, killed a few lions and a couple of bears and praised his God. Then God took David out of the pasture tending sheep and placed him on the throne to tend the people of Israel. Was the call, the annointing to be King, less true the morning after when David woke up than it was the moment the crown was actually placed upon his head? No. But David was required to wait, to mature.