trust, waiting and patience

I have been thinking a lot recently about trust. About trusting in God for stuff I can’t see yet. Whether its things, circumstances or changes I’m after, I have come to realise that the least stressful way of working and waiting for these things is to trust. 

Waiting. 

And as a general rule I’m not great at waiting. If I want to have or achieve something, I want it yesterday. But my latest lesson is that trust and patience go together. 

In the bible there’s a big old story about when the nation of Israel first went on the journey to find their “promised land”. Moses was up a mountain chatting to God about what He had planned, and what He expected of them. The people knew where he’d gone and had committed to do whatever God had said. But Moses was gone longer than they were comfortable with and they couldn’t wait any longer so made their own god out of gold. A golden cow. They started bowing down to a golden cow.

And Moses was only gone just over a month. How about that for impatience. I read that story and think if that was me I’d have managed to wait a bit longer without giving up on God, without going back on the commitments I’d made to him.

But then I think of the things I’m trusting God for. About how it goes well for a while, then I get impatient, start to worry and stress, and either try to fix things myself or just give up all together. And it has probably taken less than a month to get to this point. So really am I any better than the golden cow worshiping people?

One definition of trust is “reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing”.

And what better integrity, strength, ability, surety can be found than in my God? Who called me from the beginning of time, who sees the span of eternity in one glance, who has promised to be with me always. 

So, trusting isn’t about just saying I trust in something or someone, in God. It’s about making the commitment to trust, then waiting, patiently if possible for God to show His faithfulness to me once again. Which he will. That’s a given

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