Waiting has never been one of my strong suits. I look for the shortest lines, hope to sneak by that stinking traffic light JUST ONCE, and schedule my departure so that I arrive just in time. I can't stand waiting. So, of course I've never been thrilled by all the admonitions to "wait for God" to do His thing in my life. You know, I think dead-stopped traffic on the interstate highway seems more preferable - at least you can see what you're waiting for! And yet I have discovered that SOMETHING in me HAS been waiting for Him despite all my impatience. You can bet I'm not confused as to its miraculous presence in my life.

I'm in good company though - remember Abraham? Yeah, he's my role model, he didn't like waiting on God either. But it sounds a bit strange how all his fleshly diversions seem to be overlooked when the story is told of his unwavering faith. No, I'm not trying to throw mud on him, I merely want to present him as God sees him. The fact is that Abraham believed God, and this reality came to be revealed through much contradiction.

In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, 'SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.' Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Romans 4:18-21

If this proves anything, it shows that God does not see as a man sees. No, no, it's not that He IGNORES reality, for He sees past the illusions and into the TRUE reality of the heart.

In hope AGAINST hope he believed

Do you not see the tension stated clearly in this man who was "waiting for God" to do what He promised? Somehow he was still believing even though he took matters into his own hands. We can argue it all we want, but it's right there in our faces.

Without becoming weak in faith ...

Even while he and Sarah discussed how they could produce God's promised heir.

he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith

Even as he went into Hagar's tent.

and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Even though he pleaded with God to accept THEIR solution instead of HIS.

It seems the wait causes all kinds of false expectations to surface. We have been brought into a new life where we believe "in hope against hope", where the "against hope" part would convince us that the "in hope" part is not true in us. But we ARE just like Abraham, the "father of all who believe" as we are waiting for God to do His thing. And it's miraculous when we begin to see it.