PATIENCE
Warning! What you’re about to read may be hazardous to getting what you want when you want it.
Quite honestly, if I were to put my list of wants beside my list of haves, the former would far outweigh the latter. For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why. When I saw others being blessed with something I’d wanted for a long time, my first response was a silent question, “What about me? What am I doing wrong?” I must admit that even today that question manages to surface when a want doesn’t become a have.
Enter that unsavory 4-letter word: WAIT. Traffic jams. Grocery lines. Being placed on hold. Ask most anyone, and they’ll agree that none of these elicits a feeling of happy anticipation. And our waiting for those “things” each of us has on our “want” list is even more difficult, especially if the “WAIT” stretches on into days, weeks, years…and even decades.
Bridge
In my opinion, I believe I have patiently waited for many years for a couple of things I’ve prayed and hoped for, and I am tempted to give up hoping and praying for them. After donning that prized self-pity robe and pouting for awhile, I’ve finally relented and said to myself, “God has a great plan for you and will answer your prayer in His time.” And as the years roll on, I’ve decided, He could have very well said, “No,” the first time I prayed, but my stubbornness wouldn’t accept it.
What I’ve come to realize after more than a decade of waiting is that I can’t rush God. He lives outside time—or time as we know it—and what seems like an eternity for us could be tantamount to a second for Him. I also realize that soem things we pray for may rely on many moving parts and many different people, and God is working behind the scenes.
I am certain that Jesus wants us to be happy as He said in John 10:10, “…I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.”
Blesson
Paul said in Philippians, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”, which is arguably very difficult when watching others get what you’ve been asking, praying, and believing for over the course of many days, weeks or years. That promotion? A baby? Your Mr./Ms. Right? But, if you look back on some of the ways God has intervened in your life, I’m sure you’ll agree that never once has one of your prayers been answered the way you thought it would be, nor is it answered when you thought the time was right.
That’s because God wants you to realize that He’s the one who should get the glory for bringing it to fruition – no one else can take credit. He wants you to open your eyes and heart to the fact that He – and He alone — answered your prayer in a way that only He can answer it. Don’t you agree that when you come to that realization (usually prompted by the Holy Spirit), it makes you appreciate the relationship you have with Him more and more?
Substance
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (Hebrews 6:12, NIV)
The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than arrogance of spirit. (Ecclesiastes 7:8 NASB)
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