Wait. And Wait. And Wait.

The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there . . . "

- Exodus 24

The life of Christian faith is primarily one of waiting. When you consider that the Bible covers some 6,000 years, and all we have are these 66 very small books contained within it, you realize that an awful lot of the narrative has been left out. We know that Abraham had to wait decades, as did Moses, and others, for God to move.

Now place it all in the context of God making promises to His people. If we expected Him to follow through on His promises, instantly, then we would be constantly disappointed, and even begin to doubt whether we can trust Him at all!

But it's all about waiting.

A friend of mine had his faith shattered when he read ancient texts and concluded that the first generation church had every realistic expectation that Christ would return in their lifetime . . . that none of them would die before He came back to establish His kingdom on the earth.

But my friend is missing the point. From beginning to end, Scripture is one big waiting game. God speaks. He promises, and then we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And sometimes the waiting feels like a joke God is playing on us.

But if you can't wait, then you can't have a faith that gets stronger.

Moses was instructed to go on top of the mountain, and wait. He waited seven days before God took the next step. 

And even now there might be people reading this, that can't even wait a few weeks for warmer weather to return in this severely cold season . . .