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 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 an 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 and responded to.
In the event of getting a better and faster means of communication, and the development in 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. 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 derive even 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. It is amazing that it took Noah around 100 years to build the ark to save himself and his family. He 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, male and female. “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Genesis 5:32).
In carrying out this command, he waited for over 100 years. “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” (Genesis 7:5-6). I see this as a very great virtue, required to walking with God. How many Christians in the 21st century have this virtue of patiently waiting on God after they have been commissioned into ministry? 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. We must learn to wait on God for His purposes for our lives and ministries to be fulfilled.
The anointing for waiting is what every Christian should pray for. While building the ark, Noah must have waited to plant some trees, wait till they grow and ready to be cut and trimmed for use. He did not have equipment for the project, but I am really convinced that he must have waited to create some axes, nails, and other relevant equipment to be used. As a matter of fact, God instructed him to use a specific wood. “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). In the Old Testament, the early characters in the bible walked patiently with God and this is evidenced in
their relationship with God. Abraham also waited patiently on God, even though he tried to create a short-cut by entering into relationship with Hagar, which Ishmael was the result. The result of the impatience was the calamity that has befallen the world now through the descendants of Ishmael.
To be continued!
