We live in a culture that does not promote patience. We are bombarded almost daily with messages that say ‘if you want it now, you can have it, and we’ll help you get it.’ We are turning into an on demand society. When I was a kid, I remember filling out an order form from a catalog and after mailing it in, you waited 2-3 weeks for a package to arrive. Anymore, if it takes more than 2-4 days, it is slow. When was the last time you wrote something using a typewriter? I remember becoming frustrated when I made mistakes on this years ago, but it taught me to make fewer mistakes. What have we learned, besides impatience, from demanding and getting things faster every time? Where are you impatient? Where are you wasting time?
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14
What is our reaction when something does not go our way? We look for alternate routes to the same destination. Abraham did this after God promised a blessing through him and his descendants, as it did not come about in the manner and time he expected. Maybe we tend to do this as well. We may half-heartedly offer up a prayer to God, and if we do not hear back what we were looking for within an hour or a day, we blaze our own trail toward what we were seeking. Can you imagine waiting for decades like Abraham or Moses and the Israelites. At what point would your patience start to wane?
And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:2-4
Where are you struggling today with waiting on the Lord? Maybe there are some hopes and dreams you had long ago that you are starting to doubt will come about. Are you refining your desires as you wait and realizing that some things you had dreamed about were not as important as you once thought? For some of us, it may take going through some bad experiences before we realize that putting our own desires first does not always play out how we would like it. Sometimes our eyes are opened when we walk with friends or family through some heartache and realize we are on a similar path unless we change some things. Hopefully, as time moves forward, we develop more patience as we wait on the Lord for better things. Sometimes those better things do not even come about in this lifetime, but afterward. May you be blessed as you learn and grow and come to understand His timing, as it is always just right.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
Courage in Christ,
Clark
