1 Kings 16:15
In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town.
Trying to find a good anecdote about waiting, I found a site of a wardrobe psychologist (!) sharing her interesting movie time with her grandmother. What was playing that Satuday was an old time movie which brings back memories of when her grammy was younger. As the movie progressed, she noticed, the plot did not. This cosmo writer became restless with all the long pauses, the slowmo pace, and the cinematic journey. "Let's get to the point already!" And to this, her relaxed grammy replied, "Be patient, Jennifer and watch the movie!"
Our featured Israel king today is Mr.Rush Guy, Zimri. Everything seems to move fast around him. He ascended to the throne via his swift murder of King Elah, Baasha’s heir, while the lad was drunk in the home of the palace in charge. As soon as he began to reign, he killed off Baasha’s whole family, even the distant relatives and friends. Timeframe? Less than a week! Considering his ex-assignment as commander of half of the king’s chariots, that’s believable. On day seven, he rushed to the citadel of the royal palace when he saw Omri, the army commander, take over the city. He fears the strength of this man and his army, and so he decided to lock himself up and set fire around him. He saw no hope, no way out. His other option was to beg for mercy or a miracle from heaven, but he couldn’t control that. He’d rather take his own life than wait and let others (including God) decide for his fate. He couldn’t even wait for tomorrow. For Zimri, it’s all about here and now. He grabbed his first flight towards top, and he left the first train towards death. All in one week.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the time when people keep their word and show up on time instead of sending a text message minutes before that they’d be late or ‘something came up’. I miss those times when I call up a friend for some expert inputs followed by ‘how are yous’ and a lot of sure gigglings, which I don’t experience in googling. People now spend most of their time in the workplace, in the hope that it could provide them an early retirement - - which they might not enjoy much because of their already wasted health and without their loved ones now turned strangers. Tech-y is cool. It did give us all sorts of comfort and convenience. But please, not at the expense of our values and relationships. And please, not in exchange for our faith in God. His wisdom saw it best that we have a Sabbath-rest once-a-week, keep it. He installed that we have days to work and nights to rest, think about it. He created seasons for the ground to receive seeds, be watered, give harvest, and yes, have a rest too. He gives us time to be happy and to mourn, to be torn down and be built up, to toil and to enjoy. Be all there for that time. Don’t be afraid to take time to weep. Don’t rush moving on. God has set everything beautiful in His time. Zimri tried to make it big in a week. He failed. Only God can do that. We’re not.
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