Seize the Moment or Wait on God?

Yesterday at church, the speaker mentioned that the world tells us to “Seize the moment”, while the Bible tells us to “Wait upon the Lord.”

We live in a world of instant gratification.  We want everything—yesterday.  We’ve lost the discipline to wait.  Credit cards and computers have literally made things available for us almost immediately.

I remember as a kid waiting for those two nights of the year, Sunday nights, when the Wizard of Oz or Sound of Music would be aired.  A huge event, we eagerly anticipated that night for weeks and looked forward to cooking Jiffy Pop over the stove.  My children have no clue about this joy we had of waiting for our favorite movie.   

Now, we have so many movies available in our own homes, on the television, and via the Internet or Netflix, that most of the time I struggle deciding what to watch because the selection is overwhelming. So I watch nothing.  If you don’t want to go to the movie theatre, you only need to wait a few weeks for most movies before you can buy the DVD to view at home as often as you'd like.

We don’t want to wait for food either.  That’s why fast food dominates the food industry (and why so many people are overweight.)  Most people don’t make their own meals anymore because of all the microwave products that provide a complete meal in a matter of minutes.  Cooking from scratch takes too much time.

In the midst of marriage problems, at least half of us decide to “seize that moment” of unhappiness and head for divorce court.  “We shouldn’t have to live like that!  Doesn’t God want us to be happy?” they say.  They don’t realize that true happiness lies at the end of those problems.  We need to work through our issues before we can understand the depths of love God intends for our marriages.  If you quit in the middle of it, you’ll never figure it out—you’ll just move from relationship to relationship.  Sounds a bit like instant gratification to me.  

Isaiah 30:18 tells us, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!”

“As I wait upon the Lord I grow stronger” is a line from one of my favorite praise songs.  I sing it continually to myself.  I KNOW how quickly I mess things up by jumping ahead of Gods plans.  Living a life of waiting on God is much more peaceful than continually seizing the moments of instant gratification.  Those moments are fleeting and only leave you wanting more—of something.  Or, they lead you on a path far from Gods plan.

Waiting for the Lord to work in your marriage may be one of the most difficult things you ever do, but it will also be the most rewarding if you persevere and don’t give up.  God will bless you greatly!

So when you don’t know which way to go or what to do, just stand back, breathe—and wait on God.  He’ll work things out better than you can imagine!