Time and Patience

Throughout my life, the thing that I usually struggle with is not in doing things, getting my hands dirty, or trying to make something happen. I struggle with being still. I think it is human nature that, when something is broken, you just want to fix it. When there is a problem, you want solve it. When there is something crooked, you realign it, so it is not crooked anymore.

In the same way, I believe that, when we go through various trials, when we are in the valleys, or even in the wilderness, our first instinct is to fix it, to get out of it, to somehow get back to the good part of life. I believe this is why, repeatedly, we see the Lord telling His people to slow down, to be still, and to trust Him to be God.

We see Him tell Gideon he needs to send some soldiers home, because the number is still too big. He wants a smaller number, so He gets all the glory due His name. We see Him calling Moses to the desert to quieten his heart, to get Egypt out of his heart, and work with him, with no distractions.

We even see it with His own Son, spending forty days fasting in the desert, being tempted by the devil himself. I think sometimes there is too much noise in our mind, and in our heart. It gets to the point where we need those moments of quietness, of stillness, to be able to fully turn off every voice, and be able to listen to His voice and His voice alone.

It would be good to read through all of Psalm 46, because it is a psalm where it describes how powerful God is, how easy it is for Him to make wars cease, and how full of majesty and glory He is. Whenever I go through a problem, I want to do something about it. If I hurt someone, I want to make it right, not only to say I am sorry, but I to fix it. If people wrong me, I want to be quick to let go of it and move on. But I have come to learn that things can sometimes take time.

Whether it is other people or myself, it takes time for things to be fully processed.   I find hope in knowing God is able to do it. He is powerful. He is the Lord of the universe, the one living King. Perhaps, whatever it is you are going though, it might be worth asking the Lord if your heart or your mind is too noisy. Perhaps you need to be still, and know that He is God.