Impatient with the Process

The year my husband spent in the South Pacific, he worked part of the time as a teacher in a Bible school in the Fiji Islands. There was a missionary there who was well-revered for his wisdom and excellent teaching. After one particularly inspiring class, the students questioned the godly man. How long did it take him to prepare for an hour message like he had just given?

The old missionary smiled at the eager students. “Oh, about 45 years and a half-hour,” he told them.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a godly Christian. Yet too often, we find ourselves impatient with our slow progress. Why can’t we be wiser with our words? When will we ever master the content of the Bible? Will we ever stop being foolish or even sinful in our actions? When are we finally going to be godly people?

A quick look at scriptural examples does not encourage the impatient believer. Moses spent the first forty years of his life in the Pharaoh’s palace. There he received the best education the empire had to offer. Then, after murdering an Egyptian guard, Moses fled into the desert. There he remained for forty more years. It wasn’t until Moses was the ripe old age of 80 that God called him to lead his people out of Egypt. Even then, Moses felt totally unprepared for the assignment. “Send someone else,” he pleaded with God. “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Then there is the story of David. The prophet Samuel anointed him as next king when he was just a young guy, out tending the family sheep herd. While David knew what the future held for him, no one else did. Life did not change quickly for David after the anointing. Eventually King Saul began to feel threatened by David. David was forced to flee into hiding in the desert. He remained there for years and years, ever-pursued by Saul and his armies, waiting for God to act and bring His promise to fulfillment. Evidently, the desert once again served as God’s training grounds.

Even Jesus did not venture into public ministry until the ripe old age of 30. Jesus also had a preparation time in the desert. For forty days, He fasted and endured temptation flung at Him by Satan himself. Why the long wait to reveal Himself to the people? Hebrews tells us: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” (Hebrews 5:8, 9)

Clearly, preparation to fulfill God’s ultimate goal for us takes time. Like my grandson, Stephen, who first had to learn he owned hands, then learn how to control them before he could finally, months later, reach out for a desired toy, we have much to learn before we will ever possess a godly character. Our lessons may be often seemingly unrelated at first glance.

The Karate Kid was a popular movie in the eighties. The young hero of the story, Daniel, goes to Mr. Miyagi to learn self-defense against the bullies that are plaguing him at his new school. Mr. Miyagi agrees to teach him Karate. The lessons begin with an unexpected kind of task: Daniel must hand-wax a veritable fleet of old cars in his yard, moving two rags in opposite circular movements. Wax on, wax off. First the right hand, then the left. When the tedious job is finally finished after several days, Daniel assumes it is now time to learn Karate. To his amazement, instead Mr. Miyagi gives him a paint brush and a bucket of whitewash to paint a long fence. He is told to stroke up and down, up and down. Of course, when Daniel does finally begin Karate, he is surprised to find that the muscles and motions he developed while working at the seemingly meaningless chores have prepared him to execute highly skillful Karate moves.

“I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me,” the psalmist wrote (Psalm 57:2). God is at work in us to bring us to perfection in Jesus Christ. This is a process that is at times painstakingly slow and very often difficult to detect. Yet while we may not always be conscious of its existence, be assured, it is happening even as we fret.

“I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6