Man has developed an array of means to fast-track every process. The jet age has actually affected everything, including the spiritual walk with God. The effect has now affected growth and maturity in Christ Jesus, and it has also affected the whole process of being patient in the season of change, which could also be obscure. It is amazing that it took Noah around 100 years to build the ark to save himself and his family.
Welcome into another new month! While thinking of what to share with you this new month, considering the global reflections which have been created by Covid19, the pandemic and the global lcokdown, I thought for many, there is a soaring growth of anxiety and fear to face the future. The other day, a young man made an honest confession when he said; “my future has been wiped off”. Many are going through a phase of deep depression and low season, which has affected their mental health. No wonder the increase in the number of suicide. I then thought it would be resourceful to share a bit about having patience in obscurity, while moving towards a better future, but this might not look like it at the initial stage.
Growing up as a young lad, the major and most common means of communication was through the post. And averagely, the waiting time for a letter (Mail) posted to be delivered in Nigeria, West Africa, where I was born and grew up was between 25 and 30 days, if the process was perfectly completed by the sender. Unlike today, the letter was always delivered to individual post office box, to be picked up by the owner. In the western world, it was faster due to advancement in technology and faster mail with delivery processing. However, there was telephone system, but it was not for the average citizens, but for the few that were above average who could afford it. A major significance of the common postal system of communication in those days was the ability to wait and be patient to send messages and receive them, even while it took days and weeks for these to be delivered.
In the event of getting a better and faster means of communication, and the development technology, the electronic mail system was made more affordable to the average man. The history of the electronic mail development could be traced to 1969, when the US Department of Defense implemented ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), a network connecting numerous computers across the department. Precisely on the 29th October 1969, the first message was sent from computer to computer on ARPANET, and finally in 1971 Ray Tomlinson invented and developed electronic mail, as we know it today, by creating ARPANET’s networked email system to enable the faster process of communication between two or more people. Coupled with the above advancement in the human communication system, the telephone system also became a means that almost everybody could afford to pay for, causing a major transformation in the human messaging structure, but a faster and more dramatic way of communication.
As a contrast to the postal system of communication, whereby the sender waits before the mail is delivered and the receiver also has to wait before the communication is complete, the electronic mailing system is more instantaneous between the sender and the receiver. The telephone system is much faster than both systems mentioned above, because the sender receives a response immediately. Through the telephone system, a significant number of mobile devices and applications have been developed to even derive a much faster response in communications.
The above highlights and the analysis have been given to ascertain the various human communication systems with the drastic decline in the level of patience, especially in the 21st Century. Man has developed an array of means to fast-track every process. The jet age has actually affected everything, including the spiritual walk with God. The effect has now affected growth and maturity in Christ Jesus, and it has also affected the whole process of being patient in the season of change, which could also be obscure. It is amazing that it took Noah around 100 years to build the ark to save himself and his family.
Noah was 500 years old when God instructed him to start the project, and when he was 600 years of age, he entered the ark with his family and all animals in two’s, male and female. Genesis 5:32 “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” In carrying out this command, he waited for over 100 years. Genesis 7:5-6 “And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.” I see this as a very great virtue, required to walking with God and surviving this time of Pandemic.
How many Christians in the 21st century have this virtue of patiently waiting in these uncertain times? The patient level in the past was very high and that is the way God works. God is dynamic, but His standard cannot be bent for any reason, not even for latest technology sake. You and I must therefore allow the Holy Spirit to direct us; from our thought process, actions and our overall response to the worldview about everything, even beyond the pandemic.
