My Inspiration: Patience with great expectations

Patience with great expectations

By William King | Email: kingwilliam189@gmail.com | image courtesy: christianity.com

We all go through waiting times that can be difficult. Perhaps we’re waiting for a doctor’s report about our condition or for responses to job applications. We need to know that God is not making us wait to make it hard on us. He’s causing us to develop our character.

Patience is an inner strength that we all need to learn. It is what brings forth God’s promises. The writer of Hebrews says, “For you have need of patient endurance, so that you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised.”

We need to develop our patience, knowing that at the right time, God is going to get us where we need to be as well as give us what we need. God doesn’t say that we shouldn’t sit around passively. He says we should be actively waiting. The Scripture says, “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains” (James 5:7).

The farmer waits with great expectation, looking for the rain, watching for sprouts, believing for a harvest, even when he doesn’t see anything happening. He knows it’s just a matter of time and the soil will yield a harvest if he patiently endures the wait.

If we’re going to bring forth the promises of God in our lives, we have to develop the patience that waits with great expectations. When it’s taking longer than we thought, we can’t grow weary and lose our enthusiasm. The prophet Habakkuk said, “You told me to write the vision down, hold it close but it’s taking a long time.”

God replied, “I said it was for an appointed time. Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and not delay.” What are you waiting for? Be patient and get prepared. God is more interested in what is being developed in you while you wait than what you’re waiting for.