God is NOT a Microwave

We live in a world where we want things and we want them NOW!  I don’t want to wait for the pizza delivery guy when I want a hot cheese pizza, I don’t want to wait for the car that is driving the speed limit (and don’t even get me started on the left lane), I don’t want to wait in the car line at school when they should have opened the door 4 minutes ago! 

We live in a world of the microwave culture.  We have become so used to getting things at a fast pace, that waiting drives us crazy.  We want to move things along.  As a society, we have come to apply the microwave mentality to everything.  We use self-checkout lines because we believe we can do it faster.  We use the restaurant’s drive-through because it takes too long sometimes to run in and place an order.  We stream music and movies instead of going to the theatre or going out to rent them because we can get them instantaneously.  We rush our children to hurry along and grow up excessively fast.  We even sometimes turn to God and want Him to deliver things to us at microwave speed.

However, God is NOT a microwave.  God does not always rush along with the things we want.  When we pray to God for an answer, a solution to a problem, or a blessing, we expect Him to deliver it right away.  We expect God to hear our prayers, microwave us up a solution in seconds, and deliver it to us.   Thank God that He does not work that way!  Now, do not get me wrong, sometimes God gives us the answers right away, sometimes the blessings appear just when we need them most….but sometimes they don’t. Remember what 2 Peter 3:8 says, “but do not forget this one thing dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day”.  God knows the bigger picture and in his infinite wisdom, He decides that we are not ready. 

Maybe God knows that if we got that blessing right away, we would not be as grateful for it.  Maybe He knows that the answer to the prayer will require some sacrifice on our part and He knows we are not spiritually or emotionally ready for that commitment yet.  Maybe He knows that there is a lesson to be learned from the mistake we made, a problem of our own creation, and God knows if He solved it for us we would never learn the lessons we need to.  Maybe it is a lesson on how to trust Him and have faith, and those often times end up being the hardest lessons to learn.  Life is not that burger place (you know the one) and you cannot always have it your way!  

God may not do things at microwave speed, but we can trust that He is always working for our good.  He hears our prayers; we just have to learn to trust His timing.  Acts 1:7 says “He said to them ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority’”.  So the next time you ask God for something and perhaps His response does not come as quickly as you like, remember, God is working on your behalf to make sure that what you’ve ordered up is perfect in His sight and His will.  Take comfort today in knowing that good things are coming, just not necessarily at microwave speed, but at “God speed”.