God – Is There an App for That?

I remember waiting for the 25th Anniversary Motown Special to air on TV. My favorite performer, Michael Jackson, would be gracing the stage. I was beside myself with excitement. My first record was Thriller, and if I had my way, I would be rocking a Jheri Curl, red leather jacket, crisp white socks and black leather loafers, dancing and crooning all the while. I parked myself in front of the TV and would allow no one to turn the dial until the show was over.

I remember waiting for the 25th Anniversary Motown Special to air on TV. My favorite performer, Michael Jackson, would be gracing the stage. I was beside myself with excitement. My first record was Thriller, and if I had my way, I would be rocking a Jheri Curl, red leather jacket, crisp white socks and black leather loafers, dancing and crooning all the while. I parked myself in front of the TV and would allow no one to turn the dial until the show was over.

When the show finally aired, I was ecstatic. Then: enter Michael Jackson. I felt like all the world held its breath as Michael glided effortlessly across the stage. The Moonwalk. The single sequined glove. Magical. It was worth the wait.

We live in an on-demand age; from consumer products, to instant YouTube fame. From how we attend classes, to where and when we watch movies or play video games. There’s an app for just about anything; slicing fruit like a ninja, touring Paris and learning French, monitoring your home and turning on your lights.

When there’s always “an app for that” in this on-demand era, what do we wait for? How does this change how I see God? He’s not an on-demand Lord; He instead insists that we wait for Him. Oh, boy – how many “appointed times”, “fullness of times”, “at the right times,” and “in a little whiles” have you seen in your Bible?

• How many years did the people of Israel languish in slavery before Moses came along?
• How much time did it take for Moses to be commissioned by God for the task of liberating His people?
• How long did God silence the prophets between the book of Malachi and the coming of Messiah?
• How much time had passed between when God had Samuel anoint David as king, and when he actually assumed the throne?
• And how many years has it been since Jesus promised that He would return?

(Answers? 430, 40 – or 80 if you take Moses' entire lifespan up to that point into account, 400, 10, and 2000+ years.)

I need to adjust my expectations a wee bit, it seems, when He hasn’t answered my plea for justice, or a husband, or a baby, or the healing, or the money, or the vindication. Or when I don’t like the answer He did give. I want to see God’s hand, hear His voice, and see His face. Now.

Lent is reminding me that there are some things that are worth the wait. When I want to see God’s hand, hear His voice, see His face, I have His word to sustain me. “For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.” There is a time of consummation coming, but not yet. There’s no “God app” to speed up the Lord’s return and zap me into a place of perfect peace and healing, without going through the trials.

But God’s timing is worth the wait.