Practice Patience

Have you ever prayed to God for something specific and you feel like he is just not answering you? Have you ever prayed for a specific relationship and just wondered how long you are supposed to wait? Have you ever gotten impatient with God? *currently raising my hand, because this is me* I have felt ALL of these things, and it is so hard not to be frustrated sometimes. Sometimes I feel like the things I want are pretty simple, especially for God who is all powerful and could do pretty much anything he wants. This year, I am trying to be more patient and be okay with waiting. I want to learn how to wait on God and trust in his timing, because the only time that I get disappointed is when I rely on my own timing. I am imperfect and so are my expectations, God already knows the plans for me, and I am pretty sure they are going to be pretty cool, so why wouldn’t I wait for them?

The verses today are Genesis 17:1-10, 15-18 and then Genesis Chapters 37, 39-41. (Not the entire chapters, just understand the gist of the story of Joseph son of Jacob.

Genesis 17:1-10, 15-18. These verses are about God’s promise to Abraham and his wife Sarah. Abraham and Sarah were very old and they had no children, but God told them that Abraham would be the father of multitudes, and Sarah would be the mother of nations. These people wanted children, but they waited patiently for God and followed God’s will. They waited and waited, continuing to be faithful and righteous even when they had not received what they had prayed for and what they had wanted desperately. After they were patient for many many years, God gave them a son, for which they were extremely grateful, and they could hardly believe that they would be granted a child in their old age. We need to be patient with God, because he is very patient with us. We need to be willing to wait for what he has for us. Sometimes we do not get what we want because God has something different planned for us, but sometimes we do not get what we want when we want it because God already has that written in his plan for our lives and we will be given the answer in his timing. That is so hard to accept sometimes, but Sarah and Abraham are a great example of great patience and they were greatly rewarded for their patience.

The other example that you are reading today is the story of Joseph. When you have the time I encourage you to read the entirety of his story because it is one of pain and exhaustion and some truly intense waiting. Joseph was sold to slave traders by his own brothers because they were jealous of him. Then he was brought very very far from his home, and was eventually put in prison for something that he did not do. He felt very alone when he was in prison and felt like God was not answering his fervent prayers to be released or to at least gain some information about what would happen to him. Even in the lost and the loneliness, Joseph continued to wait. He waited to get out of prison, he waited to hear from God, he waited for something better and he never stopped listening for God. During his waiting he began to interpret dreams for people, and he was asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. These dreams told them that the land was going to go into a famine, so they began to prepare to protect all of the people. Because Joseph helped Pharaoh and in turn helped the people of Egypt and the surrounding areas Joseph was appointed to the position of the vizier, which is the second most powerful man in Egypt. This was all because of Joseph’s patience. He waited on God and on God’s timing and was rewarded greatly for it, as was Abraham and Sarah.

Sometimes we may feel like God is just not hearing us, sometimes we may feel alone, but we need to remember to wait. There may be difficulties, and there may be joys in our periods of waiting in our lives. Let go and let God. He knows what he is doing, we just need to have the patience to trust that his plans are for a purpose, and that his plans involve something greater than ourselves. Thanks for reading today, join us tomorrow for the last day of the week.

-Jana Swanson