A Day-by-day devotional

March 31, 2023

Instant noodles

Chronological One Year Bible Reading Plan: Judges 11-14

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 27:14

One time, I was at a restaurant with one of my sisters. She was starving and was getting impatient with the service. We had been waiting a while. Not to want to add fire to her agony and edginess, I just tried to lighten things up by saying, “This is not a fast food.“

Whenever I feel hunger pangs and I wanted something warm, my go-to solution is a cup of instant noodle soup. You just boil water for a minute, pour in into the cup, wait for three minutes, stir and voila – you have your warm noodle soup.

We are all living a fast-paced life. Without having the time to pause, we fall victim to the I-want-it-now mentality. We often always want to gratify the flesh instantaneously. We want everything in our lives to be immediately ready and available the very moment we conceived them in our minds, as though every single thing is instant noodles.

What we likely forget though, is that, the really beautiful and precious things in life take time to form. Slow-cooked meals like beef stew and chili con carne take hours of cooking and stirring. Nonetheless, meals like them are one of the tastiest you could really indulge in after the lengthy wait.

Abraham waited 25 years for the fulfillment of God’s promise in His life. He received the son God promised his wife would give birth to, when he was a hundred years old (Genesis 12; Genesis 21:5). What we could learn from this narrative isn’t only that Abraham endured the time of waiting and that God is ever faithful in fulfilling His promises; we could also learn from it that the fulfillment of God’s promises doesn’t rely on our decision to make it happen, but in the timing God has placed for His plans in our lives to materialize. If God says it’s not yet time, it’s not yet time. We shouldn’t force it to happen. What we have to do though, is to make use of our waiting time to prepare ourselves for when the promise is delivered to us. God makes us wait to give us time to be ready. Because once He fulfills His promise, it means, it is also time for us to step into the new chapter He has designed for us to be in at that very given moment. It could be overwhelming!

Do not rush things. Do not rush your life. It is not a cup of instant noodles. It is a God-driven, everyday-opportunity of growing into the person that the Lord has fashioned and formed you to be!

Reflection: Life is not a walk in the park. Every single day is a chance to move forward to the goals God has breathed into our lives. Each process is a learning opportunity. Seize it and season yourself through the waiting.

Prayer: Lord, stir in me a patience strong enough to endure the long wait. Enable me to see each second of waiting as a privilege of drawing myself closer to you, and through it, your promise. Amen.