I have always had the mantra “Work smarter, not harder”. I would much rather do things faster and more efficiently. I want things done yesterday, and I will process every possible solution to a problem before I start to accomplish the given task. I analyze, or maybe better said, I overthink, because I don’t want to waste time or energy. But here’s the thing about life. Sometimes harder is smarter. Sometimes God chooses to take His time in leading us through the hard, because He knows the work done will not just get us from point A to point B, but will transform us into the women He wants us to be.
My life has always seemed to revolve around waiting. Whether it was waiting for the right group of friends, waiting for the man I would call my husband, waiting for a family, or waiting for the feelings of inadequateness to go away, God always seems to do the most work in my heart when I am forced to slow down and just wait. I haven’t always been the most patient waiter, either.
I find the story of Sarah in Genesis a perfect example of waiting gone wrong. Sarah, then Sarai, wanted more than anything a child. The longing and the waiting was too much, and after 10 years of waiting for God to give her His promised child, she couldn’t stand it any longer. She chose to allow her husband to sleep with one of her servants, in hopes that through her getting pregnant, that maybe it would fulfill the longing she had for a child. Sarah believed the lie that I think we all believe when the journey is taking longer than we think it should. She believed that God was holding out on her.
When we zoom out of Sarah’s story and get a birds-eye view of the journey of Sarah’s life, what we find is the truth.
“By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.” Hebrews 11:11
God wasn’t wasting Sarah’s time or delighting in her misery. He was doing surgery. He was removing all the doubt that had built up in her heart, so that she could have a deeply rooted faith in Him. Hebrews says that she “considered him faithful”. She depended on the promise when the journey seemed bleak; impossible even. God wants our journey to result in great, unshakeable faith in Him, but that takes time. It takes intentional working out of the unbelief in our hearts. If you find yourself stuck in the journey, ask God what parts of your heart need to find Him faithful.
We want to thank Savanna Rodriguez for sharing this post.
Women's Ministry 