God has great things planned for you, so don’t be so quick to fall for what’s second best in your life. His most precious promises are worth waiting for. God’s plan is always the best plan.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a question for you.
If you like Starbucks, or Peet’s, or Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, you’ll resonate with this story. Have you ever had a cup of coffee they serve in the hotel hallways or hotel lobbies? You know, early in the morning, the people at the front desk put out a pot of coffee. They put it out on a little table with powdered creamers next to some Styrofoam cups. It's not the best-tasting stuff, is it? And it may have been sitting there for hours. Sometimes when I'm traveling, I'll spot coffee like that, I’ll sniff the aroma, and often I'm so tempted to scarf down a cup. If I'm in a hurry, I'm thinking less about quality and more about caffeine!
Ah, but if I know that there's a gourmet coffee kiosk at the airport, serving up fresh ground heavenly brew, then I will pass by the old hotel coffee, sitting there in its Styrofoam cups, because I’m thinking to myself, “Hmm, I can wait a half an hour.” I can wait because I know it will pay off. I think of that which is of higher quality. It takes a little self-control, and it does mean putting pleasure on hold, but I do it in anticipation of an even greater pleasure on the horizon. Like really, really, good coffee if I will but wait just 30 minutes or so. It’s all a matter of putting pleasure on hold.
Now, this is at least part of what it means to "wait on the Lord." Waiting on God does not mean passive indifference – you know, hanging around and doing nothing. No, to “wait on the Lord” has more to do with saying no to impulsive, spur-of-the-moment actions or decisions, and by so doing, saying yes to something you know will satisfy much better on down the line. Those who have not yet learned how to wait on the Lord may tend to indulge in something immediate that only half satisfies – like blowing your diet for a couple of Snickers. But Christians who have fostered a degree of self-control [and that’s the key, isn’t it: self-control], Christians who know God better – don't mind putting pleasure on hold. They know something better is brewing down the line. And they have learned to treasure that “something better.” They know it’s not only better for them; it’s a better way to please the Lord, as well. What is brewing better down the line? What’s that something better?
Well, 2 Peter 1 tells us, “It is through [Jesus] that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us. For this very reason do your utmost to see that your faith carries with it real goodness of life. Your goodness must be accompanied by knowledge, and your knowledge by [here it comes] self-control.”
God's greatest and most precious promises are the “something better” worth waiting for. God has great things planned for you, so don’t be so quick to fall for what’s second best in your life. You may feel like a certain choice or a certain action is a good idea at the time, but sometimes that which is good can be the rival of God's best. You are always, always, always on safe ground when you take the matter before the Lord and ask his direction; ask for his wisdom; ask for his words, or what he wants; and what he would choose or desire for you. Take time to be still before him, seeking his mind and his desire for you today and all your tomorrows. God's plan is always the best plan, so take heart from these wonderful words in Lamentations 3:25, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Remember, God's greatest and most precious promises are so pleasurable, they really are worth waiting for.
© Joni and Friends