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Tuesday Morning Epistles Welcome to “Tuesday Morning”—always containing words of encouragement for Christians everywhere, even in the week when income taxes are due.
God knows a thing or two about speed. He created “light” to travel at the almost incomprehensible speed of 186,000 miles per second. I inquired of my reliable search engine, “Can anything travel faster than the speed of light?” The answer: “No,” if Albert Einstein was correct when he published his theory of special relativity in 1905. According to that theory, the speed of light is a “fundamental constant of nature.”
Physorg.com observes, “The same theory says that objects gain mass as they speed up, and that speeding up requires energy. The more mass, the more energy is required. By the time an object reached the speed of light, Einstein calculated, its mass would be infinite, and so would the amount of energy required to increase its speed. To go beyond the infinite is impossible.”
Donald Schneider, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at
God is faithful to his natural laws, but he will not be rushed. He acts judiciously and deliberately. He is patient with us as we pursue our independent ways, waiting for us to turn to him in faith. Could it be that God wants us to learn to be more like him in how we discipline our tendencies to act impulsively? In his Letter to the Church at Philippi the Apostle Paul wrote, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12, 13).
The theme of this week’s “Tuesday Morning” is “Don’t Worry—Wait!” It is attached below.
Tom Barnard A Senior Encourager
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Don’t Worry—Wait! Tom Barnard
t the 1989 Grammy Awards, a song won awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and best Male Pop Vocal Performance of the Year. It helped make vocalist/composer/conductor Bobby McFerrin both rich and famous. The title of the song was “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
The words in the title were not original to McFerrin. They were attributed to Meher Baba—the Indian mystic and self-declared “Avatar” who died in 1969. Lyrics of great songs don’t need great music to make them great. In this case, music must have helped. Check out these unspectacular lyrics:
aint got no cash, aint got no style, aint got no gal to make you smile but don’t worry, be happy
Taken separately, Meher Baba’s two-part title is fine. But not together. “Don’t worry” is a valid biblical admonition. “Be happy” also has biblical roots. But not coupled. Actually, another word fits better. It is, “Don’t worry—wait.” Why? Because human nature typically pursues the opposite response to trouble. Impulsively, when worrisome times come we tend to fight, resist, scratch, bite, scream, snarl, and almost always—rush. We opt for major surgery when first-aid will do. The very old expression is true: “Haste makes waste.” Waiting is better. Gardner Hunting offers this interesting perspective:
“…it is hurry that causes most accidents. It is hurry that causes most disagreements. It causes most misunderstandings. It causes most disappointments. Hurry distracts the mind from clear thought. It drowns out the Voice. Hurry rhymes with worry—and belongs in the same category. We say of a man who hurries and worries, that he gets ‘all hot and bothered’—and he does. And that is usually about all he gets.”
Hurry is mostly a bad thing. It affects a person’s judgment. As someone said, “It slurs action.” It can lead to stress, and stress can led to a heart attack. Do you want your surgeon to hurry through a surgical procedure? Do you want your teenager to hurry through a yellow light in a busy intersection? Do you want your favorite golfer to rush a two-foot putt? Do you want your star quarterback to launch a pass before checking the position of the defensive backs? Do you want your daughter to hurry into a relationship?
King David, a man known more for his impulsiveness than for his patience, understood but did not always follow his inspired thoughts. In Psalm 27:13, 14 he left these words for all to read and follow:
“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
To wait is the listen. To wait is to think. To wait is to allow God to act. To wait is to delay action until God engages with us in the midst of a crisis. There are those who want us to believe that “he who hesitates is lost.” There are others who teach that “opportunity never knocks twice.” Both are lies. The truth is that those who wait for the Lord are saved; those to fail to wait for the Lord and proceed on their own may be lost. And opportunity knocks numerous times. God is the One who makes the difference.
What is the cure for worry? “Wait for the Lord.” The Lord waited for you. Will you wait for Him? |