167.1 seconds— That’s the average wait time on an order at McDonald’s. 243.7 seconds for White Castle. The average wait for Olive Garden in Orlando is 45 minutes for lunch and an hour for dinner. As for Disney’s Club 33- If you’re a member, you often have a two-week wait for a reservation. If you’re not a member, the joke is that you may have to wait a lifetime.

I don’t mind waiting for fast food.  But for whatever reason, I do not like waiting on God. I want my need met NOW, my prayer answered in 5 minutes, my life changed in a day. I have a list a mile long of what I want from God–and much of the list I feel are promises but many lines on the page are stained from tears of sadness, disappointment or impatience.

I need to learn from Abraham. When Abraham was 75 years old, God promised him he would be a great nation with as many descendants as the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. And Abraham waited. And waited. And waited. In fact, Abraham waited until he was over 100 years old before the promised child arrived.

Isaac was still just a child, not a nation. But Abraham never stopped believing that God would give him a nation. I am impressed that he waited over 25 years for a son. However, I am most impressed that he still believed that God would give him that nation even when he only had the son and a few offspring. Abraham couldn’t see it– indeed he NEVER saw the nation in his lifetime. But he knew God, and he knew God would keep his word.

I want to be like Abraham. I want to believe what I don’t see. I want to know God is working everything for good. Maybe I won’t ever see that good, but it does not mean that God is not working it. Abraham died believing – knowing– that God would come through on his word. I want to have faith. Not fast food faith that waits a few days or weeks, but real faith that is confident in what I hope for and assured about what I do not see. (Heb. 11:1)

So I will be like Abraham, even if it takes a lifetime.