Waiting on The Lord

Psalm 27:14 (NLT)

14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

It is through faith, prayer and humility that we can wait on The Lord. While we may be nervous and afraid we must stay focused on God knowing He is our protector. Stay brave and courageous for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. Those that wait upon the Lord have reason to be of good courage.

I learned to work on my own cars when I was younger. There was one time I was replacing a water pump. It was a difficult job. I had to lift up the engine so I could access some of the bolts. The water pump itself was in a difficult spot where I had to almost be a contortionist to reach some of the bolts.

I proudly removed the water pump and replaced everything but one final bolt. Unfortunately because of rust, the position of the bolt and the angle at which I had to work, the bolt kept trying to cross thread. Anyone who has worked with bolts knows that if you cross thread a bolt, you ruin the threads and any chances of using the hole where the bolt goes without some intervention at a machine shop.

I was getting very frustrated with that bolt. I worked and worked trying to get that bolt to go on correctly. I tried cleaning the hole for the bolt. I used rust remover. I tried everything I knew to do. I was not only frustrated, but very tired from leaning over the engine compartment.

My wife kept coming out and suggesting I call a friend named Miller who lived down the street. Finally I broke down and called. His wife said he would be home in an hour and she would have him come down to my house.

Miller finally arrived and tried to put the bolt in and had the same problem I did; the bolt kept trying to cross thread. Then Miller said come on down to my house a minute and we will get this fixed. At his house he took out a metal grinder and carefully grinded off the first quarter inch of the threads on the bolt. We then went back to my house and the bolt slipped right in and threaded correctly.

You see Miller knew that with the first part of the threads ground off, the bolt would line up straight in the hole. It was worth waiting on Miller for his help or I would have been out there all night trying to get that bolt to go into place.

Most people don’t like to wait. I had a hard time waiting for my friend Miller to get home. However that wait turned into a learning experience that I have used several times throughout the years. However, we learn some of life's greatest lessons through delayed gratification by waiting.

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.