Dharius Daniels - Are We There Yet?

Hebrews chapter 6, verse 10 says this: «I love this verse. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you’ve shown him as you helped his people and continue to help them.» We want each one of you to show this same diligence to the very end so that what you hope for may be fully realized. How many want that in your life? What you’re hoping for to be fully realized? We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit what has been promised. When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, «I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.» Here’s verse 15: «And so, after waiting patiently—wow, somebody shout! —after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.» I’ll stop the reading of Scripture right there and I want to tag a title to that text. The title is a question: «Are we there yet?»

I think if some of us—maybe many of us—who are seated in this space would honestly audit our emotions, we would have to admit and articulate that although patience is a virtue, it is not always our virtue. I didn’t get a lot of realness right there. I’m suggesting that in one way or another, or to some degree, most of us at some point wrestle with this issue called impatience. If your experience is similar to mine, it seems that a context that agitates our impatience is the one of driving on the highway in the left lane behind someone who’s driving like they should be in the right lane. It kind of does something to our patience! Sitting at a red light behind someone who is right in front of the light, when the light turns green and they’re sitting there like it’s red, does something to patience! Driving hot behind someone who is not just honoring the speed limit, but is driving drastically below it, really tests how honest we are.

And then when we pass by, we give them the mean look. Where’s my honest section this morning? Like, where are you driving? What are you doing? I think in one way or another, we all wrestle with this issue called impatience. It is one thing to wrestle with this issue when we’re in the car with people; it’s another when we’re in the car with God. How many of you know God has some places called promises he wants to take us? A destination called destiny he wants to get us to, but it seems that he has a timetable inconsistent with mine. We’re like, «God, can we at least go the speed limit?» Is there anyone here honest enough to admit that, at times, it seems as if God takes the slow route to get you where he wants to take you? Can I hear a good «Amen» this morning?

We can find ourselves feeling in the recesses of our souls questions that children have when they’re riding in the car with adults: «Are we there yet?» I mean, God, you said that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. I’m just saying, Jesus, it’s been nighttime a long time. Are we there yet? You said you would do exceedingly and abundantly above all we ask, think, or imagine, and Jesus, I’m just wondering, are we there yet? You said if I sow in tears—meaning when I go through seasons of grief and loss—you said I will reap in joy, that there’s going to come a season when I have a harvest of joy that overwhelms and overrides my season of pain. And I just want to know, God, are we there yet?

I’m gonna see if any parents— I know this is the late service—will give me an «Amen» here. You said, God, if I train up a child in the way they should go, when they get older they won’t depart from it. Well, Jesus, mine have departed, and I want to know where they are coming back! Are we there yet? Is there anyone honest enough to admit that there are times when we wonder if we’re ever going to get to a place called God’s promises and a destination called destiny, because God seems to have different timetables than we do?

In our time together today, I want to acknowledge and admit that most of us may struggle with this issue called impatience, but it is an issue we must master—not that we will become perfect in it, but we must become proficient at it. Because here’s the truth of the matter: there are some seasons that are waiting seasons. There are some seasons when God is not saying «go» because that’s the season when God is saying «grow.» Some seasons are growing seasons, and other seasons are grounding seasons, where God is grounding us and maturing us, like a tree giving us strong roots. He knows the higher you go, the more wind you are exposed to, and he wants you to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water so that when the wind blows, you have that palm tree posture: you bend, but you don’t break. I want to know, is there anybody here honest enough that God has given you that palm tree posture because you’ve dealt with some wind that would have broken someone else?