Wisdom Waits 2 – You Can’t Hurry Love (Jon Petts)

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Remember from last time

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

Proverbs 14:12

 

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise.

1 Corinthians 3:18

 

The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

James 3:17

One area of God’s wisdom that contradicts much human wisdom is the idea that slow is not always a bad thing. In fact sometimes slow is essential to living the live God intended.

Dallas Willard referred to hurry as the “great enemy of spiritual life in our day.” His message was to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

 

Hurry is the enemy of love

Love has many enemies. Most of them are centred in the self. If I were to ask you what you thought would be the opposite of love, many of you might answer, “Hate. Hate is the opposite of love.”

But I’d say it’s selfishness, or just the self.

If love is others-centred then possibly the greatest enemy of love is self-centredness.

And being self-centred manifests itself in many ways. One of them is hurry.

Thus, in my thinking about hurry, and in my attempts to ‘ruthlessly eliminate’ it, I have to consider how my hurried efforts become the antithesis of love.

If you don’t believe that love and hurry are incompatible, think of when you’ve been in a hurry and someone has interrupted you. How loving were you then to that person? Did you show them unconditional positive attention? Thought so.

Love is slow. It takes time. It is patient. It’s not in a hurry.

Of course, we have to set boundaries as to how much interruption we allow. People need to know that we have things to do and people to see. But when interrupted, is it possible to take a pause, take a breath, and think, is this person’s interruption of equal value to the thing I am heading for? How urgent is my schedule? Can I adjust and see this as an opportunity to listen to or be with someone else? It might only be a few moments but you’ll miss out on them if you let hurry rule.

Think about how Jesus was on the way to Jairus’s daughter. She was sick and dying. Surely that was urgent! And he was interrupted by someone who was unclean and broken. An ageing and suffering woman touched him, and he felt the power go out of him. The human side of Jesus could easily have continued on to heal the sick girl. But he stopped and spent time to engage with the woman first. The human side of Jesus could also have worried that in doing so the girl was losing vital minutes. She could die if he delayed! But Jesus was not in a hurry.

Why?

Because he trusted God with all outcomes. There may be times when we are in a genuine hurry. We may be on the way to some urgent meeting or situation. But even in those moments, God wants to know that he is Lord of all in your life. He is sometimes in the delay.

Do you trust him to take care of the future?

Yes of course I do!

Do you really trust him? Enough to risk the future and leave it in his hands? Enough to jeopardise the security of your future?

Jesus finally got to the little girl’s house and the mourners were there already. But he put them out. God knew what he was doing. He had time for the sick woman, and he had power for the dying girl to be raised to life.

We could go on to talk about the death of Lazarus. Again, we see a Jesus who is not in a hurry. But everything he does is rooted and grounded in love. God is love.

Lazarus was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary is the one who had poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. He knew this family well. In fact, John 11 tells us twice that he loved Lazarus. The sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is ill.’

Now look at these incredible verses:

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was two more days.

John 11

This just does not make sense in anyone’s human understanding. But when God has a plan, when his son hears his voice, anything can happen.

You know the story. Lazarus dies and Jesus raises him! But my point today is that Jesus was not in a hurry because he knew God’s will and acted within it.

Jesus does not want you to be in a hurry. Love and hurry do not mix, and in this case even hurrying to the one Jesus loved was not in God’s plan.

Sometimes God has a bigger plan.

We cannot hurry God. Our understanding is small. His understanding encompasses all humanity and all history. Who are we – mere sheep – to question the good Shepherd?

So from our two stories today we’ve seen God’s counter-intuitive wisdom expressed in an unhurried love.

1. Jesus did not hurry to Jairus’ daughter, because he loved the sick woman just as much. We too must not miss opportunities disguised as distractions. This may even involve trusting God with the thing we were hurrying to, no matter how important it was. Listen to his voice. Follow his leading. Assess the distraction before you instantly dismiss it.
2. Jesus did not hurry to the house of Lazarus. He held back. It was deliberate. In verse 4 of the story he says, ‘This illness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ He knew God’s plan for the situation and acted on it. Again this is counter-intuitive: in the world’s eyes (and understandably) one would hurry to the situation. And that is correct under normal circumstances. Sometimes love does hurry. I’d hurry if my wife was rushed into hospital! But Jesus said elsewhere that he only does what he sees the father doing. And that’s what was happening here. He saw a bigger picture because God had confided in him.

Let’s be willing to be unhurried out of love for God first and foremost and then out of love for others. Let’s not hurry on to get our next task done and miss that 30 second chat with a neighbour or colleague. There may be a hidden harvest there just waiting to reveal itself. Maybe that task could wait.

And let’s do like Jesus did, listen to the voice of the father, do what he is doing, even if it’s counter-intuitive in man’s wisdom.

Next time, we will see again that wisdom waits, as we surrender to his agenda.

 

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