Recently, psychological studies revealed that the goldfish, with its attention span of 9 seconds, has bested the human being whose attention span has deteriorated to 8 seconds. Waiting is a major part of life and most people have not learned to respond to its demands properly. Scriptures contain a plethora of examples in which people have "jumped the gun," including Moses, Saul, and Peter, botching up established plans God had set for them. Indeed, the discipline of waiting is on the same level as the other spiritual disciplines: prayer, Bible study, meditation, and fasting, requiring substantial admixtures of faith and hope. Waiting builds patience, endurance, and longsuffering, all godly traits which His offspring must emulate. Realizing God exists outside the dimension of time, we must marvel at the periods of time (perhaps billions of years) before putting His plan into motion, the master plan of creating offspring in His image—children possessing His character, including patience and longsuffering. Waiting makes us steady and dependable, rather than impulsive and foolish. God is slow to anger, swift to discipline, and quick to rebuild love and forbearance. The most comprehensive description of God's character is revealed in Exodus 34:5-6: merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth. We must be slow to wrath, exercising patience as God works out His plan for us, which will always occur in precisely the right time. Let us not test His patience as did our forebears on the Sinai, limiting him to a genie in a bottle, fulfilling their petty carnal wants. Waiting for the Lord to develop his plan for us builds character while complaining and whining destroy character. We must emulate Father Noah, waiting a lengthy 120 years, but faithfully doing everything God asked Him to do.