Quickly And Without Delay
The King shall come when morning dawns, and light and beauty brings;
“Hail, Christ the Lord!” Thy people pray, come quickly, King of kings!
“I want it and I want it now. No, forget that. I don’t want it now. I want it before now!” That is the urgency that many people put on their wants, dreams, and desires. They want what they want when they want it and they do not like to hear a “no” or hear that there will be a delay. I think that is one of those things that is hard-wired into our frail human nature.
Can you imagine being one of the people of the nation of Israel? For generation after generation they played the waiting game. They waited for deliverance from slavery. Then they waited in exile looking for the Promised Land. Then they waited for the coming of the Messiah. “Come quickly, King of Kings!” was a hope and a prayer that they nursed in their hearts for a long time.
How well do we wait? If we are honest, we would have to say, “Not very.” I have heard, in my thirty-seven years of priesthood, people tell me that they gave up praying to God because He did not listen to their prayer. What they really meant was that they didn’t get what they wanted when they wanted it. God always hears our prayer. We do not always hear Him say to us, “No”, or, “Not yet”. We don’t like to hear those words so we tune them out and blame God for not listening.
If we are going to be his faithful people, we have to learn to listen for His voice. If we are going to listen for His voice, we are going to have an incredible amount of patience. As we pray, “Come quickly, King of Kings”, we have to ask God to give us the patience to wait for His response to our supplication.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God to give you the patience that you need as you await the unfolding of His plan for your life.