January 17, 2018

It was dark and raining hard during a busy commute. Carol and I were not in a hurry, but getting home was our goal. Then came brake lights and a sudden need to stop. Thankfully, we were not following closely or we likely would have hit the car ahead. Farther up the road, a car had done some kind of U-turn that had caused the problem. If we had crashed, they probably would not have even known. Their hurry could have caused a lot of waiting.

I thought of someone who was in such a hurry that they failed to use a handrail. I guess they had time after – at least, time for medical help, therapy and the loss of opportunity to do the things they desired. It was a “hurry up and wait” situation.

I remembered the people who rushed ahead of God’s guidelines and made some choices they lived to regret. Life would have been simpler if they had thought ahead, lived within appropriate boundaries and waited for the right time. It seldom pays to hurry and usually results in waiting longer than would have been necessary.

Abraham and Sarah knew the promise from God that their descendant would come from them. But when it wasn’t happening on their schedule, they added Hagar to the relationship, which resulted in the birth of Ishmael. People on Planet Earth today are still struggling with that choice and will continue to do so until Jesus resolves everything.

The Bible says that Creator God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Believing that to mean a daily walk, it could not have been more than a few hours between the time Satan temped them to disobey and when they could have talked to God about Satan’s proposal. They did not wait, sin entered the human race, and today we all suffer from it.

There is amazing value in taking just a little time to think about consequences before we make decisions. The saying goes, “If we do not have time to do it right the first time, how will we find time to do it over again – maybe many times?”

Pastor Bill Ehmann