1 Kings Chapter 7
My Goodness, Be Patient!!
King Solomon put a lot of time and energy into building both the Lord’s Temple and his own personal home. I’m thinking of all the skilled workmanship that went into the two buildings and how magnificent they must have been. God’s Temple took 7 years to build and Solomon’s took 12 years. I’m trying to relate that to our world today. In our world today, everything seems so instantaneous.
– if you want to talk to someone across the world, you can text them ASAP, or zoom them, or FaceTime them. You don’t have to write a letter and mail it and wait several weeks to get a response.
– if you want on the internet, you can get on very quickly.
However, we take this desire for instantaneous results and expect it for everything else in life.
– if we are sick we expect a doctor’s appointment now!!
– if we want to lose weight, we want to lose it now!!
– if we want to build a house or build some other project, we expect a general contractor now!!
Sadly this expectation of instantaneous results often overlaps in Ministry.
I want to see people come to know the Lord now!! We plan an event for people to attend but we don’t see people coming forward falling at the altar wanting to get saved.
We forget that God is a patient God and not bound by time. He’s a God of relationships and we should be people that are willing to invest into the lives of others even if it means for a long period of time. I’m not saying lives can’t be changed instantaneously but if we expect that for every relationship then we set ourselves up for disappointment and failure, and eventually even conclude that God is NOT working or NOT even real.
God is a God of relationships and loves to invest into lives step by step. Therefore we should rejoice over even the smallest progress that we notice.
I prayed for 25 years that my dad would surrender his life to the Lord. Where was God in all this. I questioned him often. But the day came when my dad had cancer, and during that time he surrendered his life to the Lord Jesus. On his deathbed he said his biggest regret was that he didn’t surrender his life to the Lord sooner.
God help me:
– Be excited about Ministry and reaching people for you.
– Be willing to build relationships with those around me.
– Rejoice for what seems to even be the smallest steps of progress.
– Not expect instantaneous results but be willing to invest in relationships over long periods of time if that’s what it takes.
Have a blessed day!
