God Sharpens Us With Patience

Waiting is the worst. Waiting when you’re excited with anticipation is one thing, but waiting for breakthrough when you’re in dire circumstances feels horrible. As I write this, we around the globe are asking, “How long, Lord?”

David was well-acquainted with waiting. Anointed by God in his teens to be the next king, David had to wait years before the fulfillment of God’s promise.

“God uses delay to sharpen us and set the stage for how He wants to use us.”

Though we hate waiting, God uses waiting in our lives to sharpen us as His servants and set the stage for His will. As the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 1:8), He holds time and eternity in His hands. His perspective on timing is vastly different from ours. We are usually in a rush, right? God uses delay to sharpen us and set the stage for how He wants to use us. Yet, in our humanity, we long for Him to hurry up. As we wait for Him and lean into His refining process rather than pulling away, the Holy Spirit transforms us. We are shaped into someone who looks a whole lot more like Jesus. Often it is only in the crucible of waiting that we emerge radiating the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, and patience.

Rather than asking, “How long, Lord?” perhaps a better question might be, “How can I cooperate with what You’re doing in my life right now?” Only those who have been in the fire of the crucible of waiting are able to emerge as the polished instruments of God.