“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7)
I like to think of myself as a patient person. I’m a Primary School Teacher – so patience is a really essential characteristic to have. But I’m slowly learning, that like love, patience is a choice! It’s a gift, one we need to seek and choose. I have learnt that I am patient when I need to be or want to be, but when something isn’t going quite my way or in my timing then I become impatient and I stop seeking God in it. I’m sure many of you can identify with this. Like a lot of young girls, I was impatient to get married. So much so that I made it my idol – and in an unfortunate turn of events, I came to realise both the need and the beauty of being patient and waiting for God’s timing and God’s chosen partner for me. That is not to mean that I’m not still super keen to one day get married, it is still one of the biggest desires of my heart, but right now I am content in learning more and more about myself and growing with God in order to be the best woman of God I can be – maybe one day leading to being the best wife I can be. The more I search the Bible, pray and spend time with Jesus, the more I realise how unbelievably important it is to seek and invite God into every decision I make. I’m currently applying for jobs and it is the most tedious and boring task. The rejection has the ability to cause much hurt and disappointment, unless I learn to not take it personally. I often find it easy to encourage people that the rejection of an application is because it’s not the place Jesus wants them. I knew that I would find it difficult to accept rejection and so I prayed really hard that I would know this truth when it came my turn for applying for jobs. I’m so thankful that Jesus has guided every step of the path so far. I have not yet got a job, but I have had the God given strength to accept that Jesus wants me somewhere else, somewhere better and so I just keep trusting that this in time will come. When I think about patience, I am drawn to two stories. Fittingly they both correspond to the two biggest desires of my heart. The first is the story of Abraham and Sarah. You may be familiar with the story that God promised Abraham that ‘a son from your own body will be your heir’ (Genesis 15:4). Abraham trusted God, but he also had a wife who could not have children. Sarah didn’t put her trust in God’s timing as she was old and barren, and so encouraged Abraham to have a child with their maidservant. However, in God’s timing, he blessed Sarah with a child of her own. It was a long time before Sarah had a child and a miracle that she even did. There was a lapse in patience and they tried to take matters into their own hands – but God still rewarded in the right time and they praised Him for his faithfulness. The second story is that of Jacob and Rachel. Jacob met Rachel and fell in love with her. He knew he wanted to marry her. Laban (Rachel’s Father) asked him to work for him for seven years and then he could have Rachel. And he did. I cannot express enough about how much joy I can (but don’t always) find in being patient and waiting on God. The most important thing being to seek him in the impatience. Being patient might mean having to make tough decisions, suffering heartache, losing something that seems good – but remember, it all points to greater things. I read a blog recently of someone who was suffering extreme impatience to see healing. He eventually concluded that,
“some healing never happens in this life. Some spouses are never found. Some children are never born. But when our King returns, he will make up for every great thing that never came.” (Greg Morse).
Our future with Jesus is so much better than all those great things we ‘miss out on’. Sometimes we long for something so much that we can miss so many other good and blessed things that come our way. We sometimes wonder ‘where is God in these situations – why isn’t he answering our longings and desires?’ Well,
“Our God is in the heavens and he does all that pleases him.” (Psalm 115:3).
That is not to mean that our desires aren’t pleasing to Him. My desire to be a wife and a mother are not unbiblical desires but they may not be the desires that God has planned out for me. And so now, I wait patiently to see what God does have planned. I pray for patience. I seek his guidance. I bring Him along on every journey I take and I ask for a stronger desire of Him. Without this, my impatience eats me up and I choose to do my will, rather than that of our loving Father. I pray that Jesus serves to be the biggest desire of all of our hearts and as we seek him and listen for his voice, we find patience in the waiting for whatever else you may want or need. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).
By Bethany McDowell. (find more here: https://thebeautifulhouseof.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/the-beautiful-house-of-patience/ )
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