Give Me Patience, and Give It to Me Now!
Joshua 11:18 NIV
Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.
Ours is an impatient generation. We send e-mail and call people on the phone instead of writing snail mail letters. We fly rather than drive. We microwave our food because it takes too long in the oven. We use instant coffee, instant tea, instant pudding, cake mix, and minute rice. We blow dry our hair, sunbathe on a light table, have the beauty shop sculpture our nails, and let our fingers do the walking. We go see the movie rather than reading the book. And through our television training, we are convinced that all of life's crises can be resolved in an hour. Unless, of course, it's a major crisis requiring a mini-series resolution in three or four days, tops.
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Then we get frustrated with God because He seems to have a hitch in His get-along. We read the Bible, and He never seems to act as slowly in that great book as He's acting in our own lives. After all, you can read about the entire conquest of the land of Canaan in just one sitting, right? But look at this verse, "Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time." In reality, it was seven years. Because the writers of scripture were into journalistic brevity, we don't get the sense of how long it took God to work things out. But when you examine the Word, you realize that by our standards, God wasn't in any bigger hurry then than He is now. He and only He has the infinite patience to deal with a world that deserves to be blown to bits. And He knows that you and I are slow learners, especially by His standards. So he keeps working in our lives, slowly and meticulously working, molding and re-molding us to better resemble Him.
He does the same thing with the situations in our lives. We get ourselves into a mess, and we want God to zap us out of it. But our God is much wiser than we. He knows that through the working out of a problem, you and I will grow. We will learn more about Him. We will grow closer to Him. We will grow to be more like Him. And we will grow to trust Him no matter how bleak the future appears to be.
The next time you get frustrated with God because He isn't moving fast enough for you or because it seems He isn't moving at all, take a look back over your life. Look for situations similar to your present one. In retrospect, it's easy to see how God was working the whole time in that situation, isn't it? He's doing the same thing now. So relax. God is giving you patience. and He is giving it to you now.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NIV
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