Happy Monday. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. – II Corinthians 4:17-18
“This too shall pass,” is the phrase that comes to my mind while reading this passage. Whatever “this” is, it is only for a time. However, when the tough times come, we often cry, “How long?”
At this time, I am awaiting the results of medical tests for someone I love. I want them now! In this day of “instant everything,” we want a quick fix. One of the verses to which I have clung since I was a teenager is Psalm 37:7. It begins, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:… In these years since I first claimed that verse, one would think that I surely have learned patience. No, sorry, but I have not. My clock does not seem to beat on God’s timetable. However, His time is always perfect.
Joseph, my favorite Bible character, must be the one—at least to me—who exemplifies what it means to “rest” and “wait patiently.” God’s plan from Joseph’s boyhood was to get him to Egypt where he would save the known world at that time from starvation. Think of the many pitfalls, trials, and deceptions he endured. I want to say, “Joseph, why didn’t you just throw in the towel?!” Joseph never read in James 1:3, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. In spite of this, he lived this verse. What a man!
Perhaps today you feel that God has forgotten you, and the time is dragging on for the foreseeable future. May I remind you that His timer is set; and when it goes off, the answer will come.
Charles Spurgeon asked, “Will not the Lord’s time be better than your time?”
Jim Elliot was a missionary who was savagely killed years ago in Ecuador. Elisabeth Elliot, his wife, once said, “We must learn to move according to the timetable of the Timeless One, and to be at peace.” Living this way, she ultimately saw the very man who slew her husband gloriously saved.
Another quote credited to Spurgeon is this: “By his wisdom, he [God] orders his delays so that they prove to be far better than our hurries.”
The psalmist said in Psalm 40:1, I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Keep in mind today that God is in no hurry because His plan and His timing will ensure that “This too shall pass.”
by Beverly Hyles
From the Mondays with Beverly blog. Reprinted with permission.