TIMING

Do you enjoy waiting? I don’t. If patience were money, I would definitely be living at the poverty level. I don’t feel I’m alone in that regard either.

Of course my impatience is in part tied to how much stress I feel over an impending issue I’m waiting over. If it is something critical to my life, I’m fair more anxious than with something I consider minor.

The one thing I had never really thought about with worry in terms of impatience is that it is a sin. We are told in scriptures to “fret not.” And that basically how you never gain in life, by worrying. But I don’t think that knowing this in any way keeps us from giving into the pressure of stress when things loom in the realm of uncertainty.

I think it is so easy to get caught up in the details of a given problem that we can forget how God is still sovereign over life. For the follower of Jesus, the Lord enters into the mainstream of our existence and works his will in our lives. Thus so often things in such a situation will end up taking place by his timing and not ours.

Regardless of our desires, the Lord’s timing follows his ultimate purpose. He uses situations to teach, inspire and test our faith. I don’t believe it is because he doesn’t know what we will do, but because we need to learn what truly burns inside our souls. That process of discover can be very difficult and even traumatic at time.

What I don’t appreciate though in such crisis is having someone without a crisis preaching at me. They sit at peace and try to tell me not to worry. Frankly that doesn’t earn my respect or appreciation in any way.

Understanding is different. To have someone be compassionate and listen without judgment or ridicule can be a real blessing. It is just too bad that is so much more rare to encounter than the “lecturers” who want to make it seem like your problem isn’t really that bad.

Unto each situation God’s clock ticks by its own pace. Along the way sometimes part of the timing is to grant us a chance to find his timekeepers of ministry that can help us through the waiting.

That won’t always end the anxiety, but it is part of the timing as much as many other times. And hopefully if one is in a valley of waiting, the heat can take strength from seeking the voice of the Lord over the sobs of one’s own soul.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed. It is a gift when it does come. Maybe in the wake of our anxiety we can in a small way take comfort from knowing we aren’t alone in that valley even if it feels as if we are.

Grant us lord the heart to stand and also to rest in your strength. And know that your timing will always be so much more perfect than our desires.