Strength Will Rise

"Patience is a virtue."

How many of us have heard that saying throughout our lives? And how many times have we actually liked hearing it at the time it was being said? I can confidently say never. But nonetheless, it is true.

The first test of patience I can recollect is the patience in waiting for Christmas. As a kid, it's probably one of the most brutal times of waiting in life. You know it's coming. You're counting down the days. All you can think about is the moment you're going to rip open all of your presents. Commercials on every channel advertising all the toys you want and hope you're going to be unwrapping on Christmas morning. And then there's the torturous moments when your mom walks through the door and tells you to go out into the other room so she can bring Christmas presents upstairs to hide. Seriously Mom?? So then you know that they're up there, hiding somewhere, just waiting and wanting to be discovered! As Christmas day draws closer and closer, you can feel yourself getting weaker and weaker with the anticipation. Some of us crack. Other kids had more discipline.

It's the same with any situation that requires patience. All you can think about is the thing you're waiting for.

Maybe you're counting down the days to a certain date. Maybe there is no date. Which sometimes, is almost worse because you don't know how long you're going to be waiting. But how many times throughout the Bible does God instruct us and ask us to wait? And not only to wait, but to wait patiently? But in those times, it's like waiting for Christmas morning all over again. We feel like it's never going to get here.

This past Sunday at church, we sang "Everlasting God." I've sang it a million times. The part that usually always gets me is when it says, "You do not faint, You won't grow weary." It always lifts my spirit. But this time, it was a different part that caught me...

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.

Hold on...strength comes while we're waiting? Strength comes from waiting? Uhhh, when exactly does that take place? Because all that ever happens while I'm waiting is frustration and weakness. I've thought those kinds of things in the past. Just like a kid waiting for Christmas, I get more and more restless and impatient the longer I wait. And if the waiting is long enough, eventually I give up or give in to my temptations and "rip open my presents" before I'm supposed to. AKA, I go outside of God's timing. But then when Christmas morning comes, there are no surprises. You ruined part of the blessing and joy of the morning because you couldn't wait. In the same way, when we go outside of God's timing, we lose something. God commands us to wait because He knows that when we do, the end product is the best He can give.

It's in the waiting that the annointing comes. It's in the waiting that the blessing comes. It's in the waiting that the strength comes. It's in the waiting that God gives all He hopes for us to receive. We just have to change the perception of our hearts. We can't be like Adam and Eve; we can't look at the fruit and think that God is withholding something from us. That's not who He is. God is more interested in our character than our comfort. And most times, waiting on the Lord is uncomfortable. But if we trust Him, trust His timing, we acquire strength and annointing and blessings and all the good gifts He longs to give us. Yes, it's hard sometimes. Yes, we grow weary of waiting sometimes, especially in a world where everything is so instantaneous. But God never grows weary. His timing is perfect. As for me, I've run ahead before. I've grown impatient before. But luckily, He always takes things and turns them into good for His purposes. My character has been grown and matured through experience and through waiting and through giving in. And it is always continuing to grow. Through the refining of my character and through my experiences, I've learned that I'd rather wait for the blessing and the annointing than get second or third best as opposed to God's first and only best. I'm more interested in my character being a delight to the Lord than my comfort being a temporary feeling for me.

Thank You, Abba, for filling me with strength as I wait on You. It's all part of the adventure. :)



The Best Is Yet To Come...