S196P7 – Growth spurts: patience
Psa. 27:12-14
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!
It was the first real “adult” job I had, and I started working there when I was 20 years old. It did not take long for the work to become unenjoyable, but the pay was great. Six years into this misery I got saved, and my expectation was that God would turn my whole life upside down. Although He seemed to work in just about every other area of my life, He did not release me from that job. I tried my hardest to find other opportunities, better opportunities, but I just could not make my way out of that office. It would be another seven years before God would release me to move on to other things. I cannot say that I would have found my way to this place today had I forced a door open during that time. What I can say is that my patient endurance through that misery led me to a place I never imagined I could reach.
Waiting on God is what I like to call a guaranteed mystery. When we wait on him, we can be sure that He will come through for us. However, we often do not know what that will look like. As we grow in relationship with him and in confidence in him, we must progress in our ability to wait patiently. It is practically a given that we would have to grow in our patience during this process of sanctification because every day is another day that we must wait for Christ to return. Each new morning in this place is another day before we get to go home. David did not lose heart because he believed that he would see the goodness of the Lord, and that belief had to grow in order to supplant every circumstance and every lie which tried to come against it. If our patience does not mature over time, we can lose our confidence in that day coming at all.
Our natural inclination is to become less patient as we wait. I might be fine waiting at the DMV for 10 or 15 minutes to have my picture taken. Once I reach the 30-minute threshold, things begin to change. The longer I must wait, the longer each minute feels, and the more impatient I become. Spiritually, patience in us must work the other way. We can look at these times of waiting as opportunities that God provides for us to develop the patience we need to faithfully wait on him. It is a discipline to be learned and practiced, and we must take advantage of the opportunities God gives us to do so. Father, give us the peace and confidence we need to grow in patience as we await the return of our Savior and the restoration of all things.