Rushing God...

While watching the television recently with my daughters, we can across something completely astounding. We were watching an animal program about eagles and what was learned is phenomenal. You see, to an eagle timing is everything. There's a time to build a nest, hatch an egg, and even a time to feed the baby eaglet. The mother eagle even has a time when enough is enough. The eagle will then teach the young eagle how to fly. At this point the mother eagle wraps her talons around the young eagle for his first lift-off from the nest. The mother will then soar about two miles high while clutching the young eagle in her talons. When the time is just right she will retract her claws, and for the first time ever the young eagle is on his own. Free falling, tumbling, screaming, and facing certain death is in his young feathered mind; especially as the ground quickly approaches. But, at the perfect moment, the mother will tuck her wings and shoot straight forward to the young eagle. She will zoom past him, level off, spread her huge wings, and catch the young eagle on her back. This routine is practiced over and over until, at last, the young eagle learns to fly. It was totally amazing to witness this on television, I could just imagine in person.
By the same token, it is totally amazing to go through this with our own lives. God does the same thing as illustrated above with His children. God reminded Moses, "I've held you up on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." Thus, this amazing fact concerning the eagle is true about God; timing is everything. The Lord's mighty and majestic moves are precise and calculated. God is, in fact, mighty and swift to save. Yet one truth remains, God is never in a hurry. Noah's building project was in excess of 100 years and Abraham awaited a son in his great old age. Joseph spent 13 years in prison and Moses was 40 when he went into the desert, but 80 when he returned with a mission and a purpose. So, you can see God will not be rushed. While time is a man-made thing, time still belongs to Him.
For me, patience has never been my strong suit. Both God and I know this. Have you ever found yourself telling God what to do or rushing Him? I'm sure I'm not alone on this. Accordingly, "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." I'm usually willing to wait 24 hours, but 8,760,000 hours? Have you ever tried to set a fire under the Lord's throne? Have I poked a familiar nerve. A long illness, no job, an overdue pay raise or promotion, church feuding or gossip, a perpetual critic, wayward children, a family problem, immature and/or undisciplined church members, a bad neighbor, one or many unanswered prayers, waiting for your church to take off as other churches do. Is this getting warm yet?
From the patriarchs of old, to the disciples of today, God's people have always asked the same questions, "When Lord, and why not now?" Yet, to paraphrase His answer to Isaiah, "My timing is not your timing, neither are your deadlines my deadlines." Jesus spent 30 years preparing for a 3-year ministry, and the Lord Jesus also knew something about timing. He exhibited poise and patience in every phase of His demanding work and His pressures would have crushed any pressures we have of today. He was never rushed, and never preoccupied with that day's frantic pace. He was, as His father, never in a hurry. Again, timing is everything. Our timing is to wait on His; and like the mother eagle, God may let us free fall, but He's never lost one of His kids yet! If your trying to rush God or losing patience, I can tell you from experience this will not work. Come back to where the Lord is at work in your life, then be still and know that He alone is God. Pray that the Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit Himself, will give you patience; and help you to see the timing of the Lord. Amen.