Something that I have struggled with for as long as I can remember is being impatient. Part of that is living in a society that is so high pace, but the other part is my need to be in control. My Type A personality makes me quite high strung at times, and this shows in my need to get things done ASAP. But I have learned over the years that I cannot live a life for the Lord and be in control of everything at the same time.
It is so easy to thank God for his provisions when life is going great. But what about when life isn’t so great? We struggle to be grateful when things like betrayal, failure, and heartache remind us how cruel the world can be. Why do we praise the Lord for providing during good times but curse him for denying during bad times? In the midst of all the chaos and anxiety and depression and anger, we forget one very important thing about God: he removes to replace.
As much as I might not want to believe it, God has NEVER said no to something that was good for me. Not that job I thought I really wanted, not a person I thought I really loved, nothing. In hindsight, every single door that I cried over God closing was because he had something much, much better down the hall. I just couldn’t see it yet. But with hindsight, you see everything 20/20.
That doesn’t mean that having life’s doors slammed in your face won’t hurt because it will. Those doors test your patience and your faith because in those moments all we care about is me and what I want. That slam in the face grabs our attention and puts our eyes back on God rather than continuing to blindly stumble through life.
No matter how many times I was impatient or jealous of other people, God’s timing was still so much better. It is so hard to be happy for God’s work in someone else’s life when you feel like he is absent in your own. However, someone else’s good fortune is not related to nor does it cause your misfortune. We must learn to rejoice when our loved ones experience God's blessings rather than becoming consumed with envy.
In those times of waiting, don’t settle for what feels pretty good right now rather than what will feel pretty great forever. God is in the business of eternity and he is not concerned with what is temporary. Even if you get that guy or that job, it will not fulfill you if it was not what God planned. Temporary waiting is worth eternal contentment.
“Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on the object we’re waiting for.”
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