Impatience at God’s Drive-Through Window

by Wayne Stiles

I hate drive-through windows. There’s just something so incongruent with “fast-food” that’s not fast.Once with my family in the car, I got so frustrated with the individual behind the unintelligible speaker who couldn’t understand me when I ordered, “pickles and cheese.”So I repeated it with passion: “I want chickles and peas!”

After I realized what I said, I turned to my wife and daughters. They burst in laughter. For them, it was better than the meal.

I’m not sure what  “chickles” are, but I ordered some, and the cashier gave me a price.

Since that day a question has nagged me: Why do we treat God like the cashier at the drive-through window?

Lord, Give Me Some Chickles and Peas

We have cultivated a fast-food mentality for most things in life—including our spiritual life. We’ve come to expect instant spirituality along with our instant mashed potatoes.

Thank God for Abraham. This guy proves that impatience and faith can be part of the same person!

Abraham knew a son was coming to him from God. But the order wasn’t coming out quick enough. So Abraham told the Lord:

“Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” —Genesis 15:3

If we can’t hurry up the Almighty, we try to figure Him out. Or help Him out.

• Under the customs of Abraham’s day, if a man died childless, his head servant would inherit it all. This must be what God has planned, the patriarch reasoned.
• As often happens with us, Abraham expected fast food but the Lord was cooking filet minion. God spoke to Abraham through the drive-through speaker:

“‘This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’ And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” —Genesis 15:4-5

God’s Drive Through has a Long Line

We honk and holler at God’s drive-through window for at least 2 reasons:

1. Our impatience. When God fails to provide our order in a timely manner, we opt for something else that shortchanges the Father’s best. After all, if we understand the Lord, we don’t have to trust Him. What’s more, who is God to keep us waiting?
2. Our shortsightedness. We fail to factor in His sovereignty and power. We limit Him to what we can understand, and so we often content ourselves with mediocrity.

God’s Will is Worth the Wait

For some reason, we have no problem trusting God for all the unknowns that happen after we die. But trusting Him for daily life? Somehow we fail to connect the dots.

As Abraham discovered, we can trust the Lord to know when the best time is to provide for us the best meal.

Thank goodness God refuses to rush the order.

Question: What helps you wait on God as you idle at the drive-through window?  Please leave a comment.