◄ Patiently Endure ►

First the grain… . and then the ear …. and then…
Luke 10:41

Therefore let us run with endurance the race..
Hebrews 12:1

To everything there is a time and a season.
Ecclesiastes3:1

Examples of Waiting

God is never, ever in a hurry – and Scripture is replete with examples of waiting. Abraham waited 100 years to have his Isaac – his son of promise from God. Job sat a season in sackcloth and ashes – before God restored the locust’s eaten years. Moses waited 80 years to start his ministry and be brought into the Lord’s presence. Hannah endured ridicule and heartache before she could give her Samuel to God. David experienced rejection and hatred before he received his anointed crown. John waited a lifetime to receive the Revelation of his beloved Master and Friend. Israel waited 2000 years before receiving their long-awaited, promised Messiah.

God’s Initial Plan

God is still waiting to fully complete and finally accomplish his initial plan for man. He started by making man in His own image – male and female created He them, proclaiming – let them have dominion… Genesis 1:26.  And from the fall God has been working towards His final goal when Christ is all in all. God has never been in a hurry to achieve His plans and purposes in your life or mine, and we’re instructed over again that patient endurance is the way of the believer.

God’s Eternal Wheel

But so often we try to kick against God’s timing in each of our lives, yet God has told us that the appointed time will surely come and will not tarry. No amount of fretting or pouting can speed-up the cogs in God’s eternal wheel. No amount of huffing or puffing can deflect God from His will for our individual lives. God told us what He will do and how He will do it – and He will complete it. God’s plans for his children rarely happen in the way, or the time that we expect them. At a time you think not He will come to you, and visit you, and dine with you. Don’t let your busy plans or work for God miss His quiet voice or gentle knock.

Cloud of Witnesses

The writer to the Hebrews lists a great cloud of faithful witnesses, who trusted God. The author of this book invites us all to travel along the journey of life this same way. Let us..  strip of every hindrance in our life that inhibits our spiritual growth. Let us..  lay aside that besetting sin of unbelief, that defeated the children of Israel. Let us..  run with patient endurance the life-race that is set before us.

Sowing and Reaping

The apostle Paul was a man that both taught and lived his life this way. He stripped away all hindrances and set his face as a flint to trust God unflinchingly, and Paul ran with persevering, patient endurance the race that was set before him. Paul understood the principle of sowing and reaping. Paul accepted the fundamental that there is a season for everything. Paul recognised that seed-sowing requires us to wait patiently, for the fruiting.

Hallmark of Patience

Perseverance, staying-power, steadfastness, and trust in God is the hallmark of patience, and God Himself exhorts us to allow patience to do its work in you. In James we read,  "let patient endurance have its perfect work in you". James 1:4.  God knows that patient endurance results in the perfecting of His children, and God is never in a hurry – and Scripture is replete with examples of waiting. The great cloud of witnesses in Hebrew 11 speaks of the ‘patience of the saints’ – and those that tried to circumnavigate God’s will just extended their waiting period!

Looking to Jesus

Abraham, Job, Hannah ‘et al’ each had to be brought to the end of themselves. Each had to wait until they were ready to hear the Lord’s gentle knock and quiet voice, Each learned to patiently endure so that patience could have its perfect work in them. If we want to be like that great cloud of faithful witnesses who trusted God, let us lay aside every weight – let us lay aside that sin of unbelief which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is set before us… Looking to Jesus.