ISAIAH 40:31
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not get tired; they will walk and not become weary.
Wait a minute - are you telling me that in order to have this kind of strength, perseverance, endurance, and gracefulness, I need...patience?
That's right! Wait a minute!...or two...or a few more...or a lot more. Is this not one of the hardest spiritual truths to endure? The world spins so fast - we are so busy - we are accustomed to instant gratification...like how many times do we see that spinny wheel on our computers while it's processing and we're like "come on come on come on! Load already!" But what a miracle it is that the computer is there processing in the first place!
My patience was seriously tested this year when I needed an answer by a certain date - or deal with courts, lawyers, emotional battles, fees, and all the stress that comes with that unfortunate way of dealing with other humans. I prayed, I fasted, I pleaded God for direction, and yet I felt no certainty, and the due date crept closer and closer...
Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). When looking up that passage, out of all the other gifts, Patience has the most alternative interpretation. Other words used for it are "forbearance" and "long-suffering." When I looked up the definition of forbearance, I got: "a refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due"; when I looked up long-suffering, I got: "patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship." Though we certainly are up against such situations as humans, even more so does God exude these qualities with us! He is certainly restraining from enforcing the debts of this world, and how patiently He endures many offenses. In the Book of Revelation, Christ tells us that he waits patiently for even the spirit of Jezebel to repent before condemning her:
Revelation 2:20-21: But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman--that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet--to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Patience is the first quality listed in the Biblical definition of Love, and the Bible tells us that God is Love (1 john 4:8), so Patience must be a very important virtue indeed - part of God's very essence.
I was just reading about Saul being instructed by Samuel to wait for him to offer up the burnt offering, to wait for further instruction. But when Samuel didn't show up at the exact moment Saul expected him to, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered up a sacrifice outside of the appointed time. Samuel returned and was greatly dismayed, and this act of impatience cost Saul his kingship, and the spirit of God left him:
1 Samuel 13: 8 And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed; but Samuel came not to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him.
9 And Saul said, “Bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 And it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.
11 And Samuel said, “What hast thou done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash,
12 therefore said I, ‘The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord.’ I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.”
13 And Samuel said to Saul, “Thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God which He commanded thee, for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.”
It's interesting that Saul told Samuel that he FORCED himself to make the offering. To me, that says he felt resistance when doing it - his conscience, so to speak, was telling him it was not right - but he forced passed that intuition of the Spirit and did it anyway.
I think this is the kind of flow that is implied by mounting up with wings like eagles. When we are "in the flow" of the spirit, there is no resistance; things come easily...ever seen birds catch a thermal and just hover, without even needing to exert themselves by flapping their wings? That's us riding the current of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us we indeed have a race to run. But we are sure to burn out if we do not have the right destination, the right motivation in mind:
Hebrews 12: 1-3 Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him that endured such contradiction from sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Look how it instructs us here to run with Patience! Did not Christ pay the debt we rightfully owed God, who held it in forbearance? Did not Christ endure us with long-suffering while he walked this earth, knowing the suffering he would have to face?
Waiting on the Lord is the strength of Christ Himself. Be willing to bear the cross.
And yes, God answered me in my time of desperate decision-making...just in time...just in His Time. Though I was anxious, I trusted, I believed He knew my needs and would answer me as He has promised. Had I not been put through this test, I would not have experienced the fulfillment of His promises in this way; I now have run a race that through my own strength would have burned me out completely. But with God's Patience, I kept an even pace all the way though the last lap.
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