"The end of a matter is better than its beginning and patience is better than pride."

-Ecclesiastes 7:8

 

As we journeyed on our "Don't Cease" moment on last week, we highlighted Ecclesiastes 7:8 which reminded us that the ending of something is better than its beginning and that patience is better than pride. In reflecting on this, it reminded me of our Faith and Patience (Part 1) blog topic and so here we are ready to navigate Part 2.

 

It is sometimes hard to believe that the ending of something is better than its beginning because often times the ending of a thing makes us feel like we have lost something and there is at often times a pause, a halt, or a waiting period before the next thing comes along that makes us feel like what we went through has deprived us, weakened us, stripped us, or robbed us of something that in actuality it hasn't. And one of the reasons it is hard to recognize that we have not been deprived, weakened, stripped or robbed, is because during this waiting period, our hurt, our pain, our irritability, and our tolerance leads and controls our thoughts, our deeds, and our actions. It is during this pause, this halt, this waiting period that all patience is lost. And when we lose our patience, far too often, it causes us to push aside waiting on God and move forward taking matters into our own 'IMPERFECT' hands. It is in these moments that we begin to lose our faith.

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In Part one of "Faith and Patience" we highlighted that all familiar waiting in line scenario in which as you are waiting, and the more impatient you become, the person in front of you seems to have more issues which causes you to finally give up and move to another line thinking that you will simply escape 'the wait' only to wind up at a register that isn't functioning causing you to not only lose your place in the line that you previously stood in that would have allowed you to be 'NEXT' but now you are in a place of malfunction. And not only do you still have to wait, but now there is another issue that presents itself because since the register at the line that you flocked toward to escape the initial wait isn't working, you will now have to either 'wait' for this register to reboot, be repaired or whatever needs to be done to get it functioning properly or you will have to move to another line whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

IF ONLY YOU HAD WAITED!

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To wait is defined as:

• the time it takes for something to happen

• to stay where you are or delay doing something until somebody/something comes or something happens

• to remain inactive or in a state of repose

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Let's go back to grab the definition of Patience used in Part 1:

 

Patience is defined as:

• the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

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Why so much talk about waiting and patience if we are focusing on faith? Well, without patience, you won't only find it harder, but you will become more discouraged while you 'WAIT', which in turn aggravates your faith. When we choose to have faith in something, we must not allow the gap between where we are and the manifestation of what we are having faith in to aggravate our faith and cause us to let it go.

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Let's define what a 'GAP' is. A gap is:

• an empty space or hole in the middle of something, or between two things

• a break in a barrier

• an assailable (unguarded, insecure, exposed) position.

 

Understand that anything that is assailable means that it is vulnerable to attack.

 

Let's put this all together:

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When we have faith in something. When we have complete trust and belief in God. When we have complete trust and confidence that this thing that we've been hoping for will come to past, there will always be a 'GAP' between where we currently are and the manifestation of what we are 'faithing' for.

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This 'GAP' is the space that exists between where you are and the occurrence of this thing that you are 'faithing' for. Understand that there are going to be things within this space, between faith and manifestation, that leaves you open to attack because when we have faith in something, we often find ourselves in a vulnerable position. And while in this vulnerable position as we are placing all of our hope in the manifestation of this 'thing' that we are 'faithing' for, if we begin to focus on time, if we begin to become discouraged by the wait, if we become impatient, this 'GAP' can make us assailable, causing us to become insecure about if God, can God, and will God do it.

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And once we begin to question the if, can, and will He concerning anything about God, we have already lost the battle at hand. Going to battle and not having faith in the one who is leading, the one who is fighting for you, can weaken the morale of any team, army, or organization because it puts the one who is following in constant conflict with the one who is leading when the one who is following does not believe in the capability, reliance, strength, or integrity of the one who is either leading or fighting for them.

 

The minute you start to question if, can, and will God do it, you become at odds with Him and before you know it you will start to work in opposition of everything that He is trying to do or commanding you to do, because you will think that His way is not just. You will think that His way takes too long. You will think that His way does not make sense. You will think that His methods are not effective. And even if you don't want to admit it, you may even begin to think that He does not know how you feel or what He's doing.

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Whether it be your thoughts or your actions, letting in one 'if' about God as it concerns anything puts you at risk of EVERYTHING! YOU MUST HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WAIT!

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PLEASE WAIT-God's Hands not YOURS!

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"Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.' ” – Genesis 15:4 (NIV)

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"Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, 'The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said." -Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV)

 

The scriptures highlighted above remind us of a very familiar story and in case you aren't familiar with it, here is an extremely brief recap:

 

In Genesis 15:4, we read that God made a promise to Abram (whose name God changed to Abraham). One of the things that God had promised Abram is that He would make him a great nation and that all of the inhabitants of the earth would be blessed through him. God had promised to make Abram's descendants numerous amongst other things. Abram had no children and was troubled by this. He struggled to understand how this thing that God promised him would apply, because he had no heirs. 

 

Abram thought that his chief assistant would inherit his estate because there was no one else. God knowing and understanding Abram's sorrow makes a covenant with him telling him that He was going to give him a son that was his own flesh and blood to become his heir. We later find as highlighted by the above scripture, Genesis16:1-2, that Abram's wife Sarai (whose name God changed to Sarah), realizing that she still had no children, convinces Abram to build a family for them through her slave Hagar. Hagar agrees and conceives a son whom she births and names Ishmael. However, God does not consider Ishmael as Abram's son. God blessed Ishmael because he was Abram's seed and made a nation out of him but as far as the promise and the covenant that God made to Abram, that promise would come forth through the son that came from God's hands which was Isaac.

 

Isaac was the son that God would allow Sarah to conceive. Sarah bore Isaac and due to unfavorable dynamics (at least that's what we'll call it), Sarah tells Abraham that she wants Hagar (the slave that she convinced her husband to conceive a child with) and Ishmael (the son that Hagar and Abraham conceived) to be sent away.

 

God instructs Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away as Sarah had told him, which initially troubled him, but God gave him assurance by telling him that Ishmael will be blessed as well. Furthermore, if we continue to read Genesis 21 and 22, we discover that God considers Isaac to be Abraham's only son although Ishmael is also his seed. Ishmael came about because of "man's" doing while Isaac came about because of God's. Far too often we allow what we don't see in the 'GAP' to cause us to take matters into our own hands much like Abram and Sarai did. God did not need them to try to create the son that He promised Abram that He would give them. This not only went against what God had promised Abram but Hagar and Ishmael in essence paid a price for it as well although God showed mercy on them both because of His favoring of Abraham.

 

We cannot interfere with the 'wait' because when we allow our inability to wait and exercise patience to unravel our faith, our actions don't just work in opposition to the will of God, but other people can be affected by our actions as well. Hagar did as she was instructed by her master and behold the drama that resulted as an aftermath of Abram and Sarai not being patient and waiting on God. If you read the accounts in Genesis 16,17, and 21, you will see that the dynamics between Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael had become reality tv at its finest.

 

We must stop allowing ourselves to think that delay means 'No'. We have become so accustomed to "Poof, there it is!", in the modern world that we now live in that we allow anything that does not appear instant, seem impossible.

If we can't get it 'right now' we automatically think 'never' because WE ARE UNWILLING TO WAIT! Anything that doesn't present the benefit of quick plays into our psyche, making us hear "NEVER!" instead of "Not right now."  It also makes us irritable and impatient. It ignites our "I WANT IT NOW" tantrum! 

 

This world has become so negatively influenced by the 'idea of instant' that people have developed some extremely dangerous and erratic behaviors. There are people who knowingly and purposely run red lights because they are impatient and don't want to wait. You see people speeding in and out of traffic without care or concern for their lives or anyone else's, just so they can get to where they are going because they don't want to wait. And while there are a whole lot of other emotions and issues that these people have which we won't go into discussing, lack of patience is one of them. Road rage has become a disease that needs to be addressed. You find people in drive-thrus becoming irate with the people in front of them because they don't want to wait. You have those that will blow their horns expecting everyone in line to get out of their way just so they can get through faster. The WORLD IS IN TROUBLE!

 

Impatience is contributing to the erratic behavior of people, and the erratic behavior of people is producing more impatience within them and their environments, and somebody whether it be themselves, those connected to them, or those who will come into contact with them, are being affected. You have extremely patient people waiting in line who can't wait to get out of line due to the fact that they are surrounded by somebody who has no patience who is causing a scene and posing a threat to everyone around them. We have all had those moments regardless of where we are, when someone is causing a scene which causes us to go into a silent prayer saying, "Lord, help me hurry up and get out of here." You have calm, mild-mannered people who are acting out of character as a result of the impatient, 'walking dynamites' that can't wait.

 

While 'man' making you wait can stem from all kinds of intent whether good or bad, God delaying things or making us wait for them is always for our good, to our benefit, and for a purpose. Just as we have to naturally mature before we are able or allowed to do certain things or partake in certain activities or events, there are certain things that God must bring into their mature stage and their full development before He gives them to us. Sometimes God is preparing us while we wait and sometimes, He is preparing the blessing while we wait. We cannot lose our faith.

WE MUST HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WAIT!

 

Our inability to wait patiently does not only cause us to switch lines, but for some of us it may cause us to switch mates, careers, churches, degree programs, schools, goals, aspirations, and life plans all because we did not have the patience to wait, which caused us to lose our faith and LET GO! And by the time you realize that you've made a mistake, it is too late, either because these people or organizations moved on without you or because you simply lost your place, your position, and your positioning, which has now either been filled by someone else or is simply not available for you to get back or step back into. In other cases, maybe what you lost was your drive, your will, your motivation, or even your confidence to go back to the things that were once yours. WE MUST HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WAIT!

 

In Hebrews 6:12 it states, "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised" (NIV). In part one, we mentioned that faith is not cookie-cutter. We mentioned that you cannot 'faith it' like someone else does because your call is not their call, your purpose is not their purpose, and plain and simple, you are not them. God's plans for you were crafted to perfection and so your faith must align with the plans that HE HAS FOR YOU! You cannot try to craft your faith to be just like someone else's faith. However, you can look at someone else's story and how they exercised their faith to inspire you to exercise and maintain your own faith. In the above scripture Hebrews 6:12 when it tells us to 'imitate' those who through their faith and patience received the promise, it is not telling us to do exactly what they did as some of those who received the promise through their faith and patience were not perfect as none of us are. Some of them made mistakes as you can see in the story of Abram and Sarai.

 

This verse is not telling us to take every single step that they took. What it means by 'imitating' them is looking at how they exercised and used their faith and using it as an example to stand firm on whatever it is that God promised you and to remain patient, to remain diligent, to not give up, to not abandon your faith. Many of these examples (people) of faith that we read about in the bible went through some rough spots, experienced some rough things, had some rough patches, and they felt some of the same emotions of distress, fear, rejection, loneliness, lack, neglect  and inadequacies that we all might feel as we endure our circumstances and our waiting periods, but THEY DID NOT GIVE UP! THEY WAITED ON GOD TO DO WHAT HE PROMISED!

 

Do not lose your faith by focusing your sight on what you see in the 'GAP'. If God said it, then it is A DEFINITE!

If God said that He is going to do it, then the length of the 'GAP' does not matter because you know that there is manifestation at the other end. You want your promise to be 'INSTANT', but your faith is slow to activate. You want the manifestation of what you ask for to be 'INSTANT', but you are slow at taking the time to pray. You want God to fight your battle in an 'INSTANT', but it takes you forever to put on your Spiritual Armor. You are losing your patience while you wait because it is taking too long for you to see what you want to see come to past, but God is looking at you thinking the same thing, "YOU ARE TAKING TOO LONG!" to do what you need to do to nurture your faith, to change the behaviors and actions that will allow you to develop some patience, some discipline, and some assurance while you wait for the promise to be fulfilled. The assurance is ALWAYS there because anything that God promises comes with assurance, you just have to learn how to grasp it and allow it to become rooted in you. GOD'S WORDS DO NOT FAIL neither does HIS WORD!

 

We cannot control time. Sometimes the 'wait' can be due to something that we are doing or aren't doing that is causing the waiting period. And at other times, the waiting period can be due to the fact that God has a 'set-time' to give us what we are asking for or what He promised.  

 

We are not perfect. Patience sometimes seems impossible. Especially when we are faced with the pressures of "man's" timeframe, schedules, due dates, and deadlines, but what we must realize is that time is inevitable, waiting is inevitable, but patience is possible, it is a choice.

 

If it is our lack of doing what we need to do that is making the wait longer, then until we discipline ourselves and do some self-checks to see how we are prolonging the manifestation of what we are 'faithing' for, we will continue to experience long wait times and lengthy GAPS.

 

Sometimes although it is your faith that is wavering you have to check other factors to see how they are contributing to your loss of faith. In this week's blog we are discussing patience, but there are many other factors that can affect your faith and cause it to waver such as temperance, unforgiveness, feelings of unworthiness and other insecurities, just to name a few.

 

Our faith can be impacted by so many other things and emotions but because we don't take the time to reflect and because we sometimes have a habit of blaming our wavering faith on the fact that "things take too long", we miss the discovery of the real or other root causes that may be contributing to our wavering faith.

 

Now if you pray and reflect and find that you're doing all that you are supposed to do and the waiting period is not your hard-headedness but the wait is part of God's 'appointed time' for you, then all you can do at this point is simply grab hold of some PATIENCE AND TRUST! But you can't do it alone. God most definitely must be part of the equation. He doesn't want you to give up and neither do I. Let's work this out together!

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THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION AND AWARENESS

 

1. What are you 'faithing' for?

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2. How long have you been 'faithing' for it?

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3. What are you doing to nurture your faith?

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4. Have you ever interfered with something that God promised you and messed things up when you tried to do it            your way?

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5. Take an honest reflection. Have you ever found yourself questioning if God knows what He is doing as it concerns      a circumstance that you were or are still facing?

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6. Do you currently feel like you are in a GAP PERIOD? How discouraged are you becoming? What can help you to        stand firm during this GAP PERIOD? Are you willing to do it?

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7. How often do you pray about this thing that you want God to do? Have you actually prayed to God about it, or            have you just decided to have faith that it is going to happen without praying about it?

 

8. How often do you pray? How often are your prayers not about asking God for anything?

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9. How do you define patience?

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10. Are you slow to anger?  How do you control your actions and reactions?

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11. Do you feel deserving of what it is you have been asking God for?

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12. As it concerns everyday circumstances how often do you become irritable when having to wait?

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13. Do waiting on some things aggravate you more than others?

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14. Do the following things irritate you or cause you to become impatient? To what degree and level of irritability do          these things impact your patience? How do you act out your irritability and impatience during these occurrences        and experiences and how does it benefit you or work against you?

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• Waiting at a doctor's appointment?

• Waiting on the phone using automated systems?

• Waiting in the drive-thru?

• Waiting in line at the store?

• Waiting in line at the bank

• Waiting on a package to be delivered?

• Waiting on a check, payment, or money someone owes you to be paid to you?

• Waiting in line at the gas station?

• Waiting on a waiter to bring the check after you've finished eating?

• Waiting on a refill while dining out?

• Waiting for someone in your household to get dressed so you can go out?

• Waiting on someone to apologize?

• Waiting on someone to reply to a text?

• Waiting on a significant other to pick up the phone?

• Waiting on your turn at the hair salon or barber shop?

• Waiting on someone at work to respond to an email?

• Waiting for a friend or loved one to respond to an email?

• Waiting to hear back about a job or position that you interviewed for?

• Waiting on church to start?

• Waiting on any type of event to start?

• Waiting on a condiment to come out of the bottle?

• Waiting on your computer or laptop to turn on, update, or reboot?

• Waiting for your phone to update?

 

15. Do you trust God?

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16. Is the thing that you're 'faithing' for something that God promised you or something that you asked for?

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17. Why do you want what you are 'faithing' for? Does it fulfill a current need or does it satisfy a want?

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18. How will your receiving this thing that you've been 'faithing' for change your life both naturally and spiritually?