Waiting

Waiting can be difficult. Nobody likes a waiting room. No matter what may be playing on the TV or if the office has new magazines or even if we happen to have a smart phone to distract us, sitting in a waiting room is a dreaded experience. And the longer you wait the more frustrated you become. I always find it funny that after spending time in a waiting room at the doctors office the next thing they do is make you weigh your self and then they take your blood pressure! That is a recipe for hypertension if I ever heard of one. As frustrating as waiting for another human being can be, it is even more frustrating when we are waiting on God. The circumstances of our lives seem to be slipping out of control or turning upside-down and we keep hoping, praying and waiting for God to do something. We pray but our prayers just seem to bounce off the ceiling. The Bible tells us to be patient, have faith and keep hoping, which implies that the actions we seek don't always come at the speed we would like. So what do we do while we wait? Is God out there? Is He paying attention? Why isn't He doing something? Waiting is a part of life and there are some things that can be helpful to know and do while we wait. In week 1 we are going to be looking at the life of Joseph. We are going to see that even though the circumstances seemed to shout that God wasn't paying attenion, or maybe even worse, was punishing Joseph, there is a difference between our perception of God's activity (or lack thereof) and His presence. What we need to know is that God is always present and always active.