ME-ssentials – Patient
ESSENTIALS for Me to Be
September 1st, 2021
What’s your ESSENTIAL?
Essential: absolutely necessary; indispensable; the essence of a thing; inherent and intrinsic, vital
Romans 8:22-25, ‘All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.’ (MSG)
There was a flurry of activity. Several nurses moved at breakneck speed and a young doctor slid through the delivery room door still tugging on sterile gloves. A plethora of noises—grunts, pants and a consolation of whispers completely entangled in urgent cries and definitive shrieks—ate the air in the room. One might think the young woman was being gutted or scalded, her screams were so desperate. But in a matter of a very short time, what the couple had been patiently awaiting for months was about to come to life, and the weeping of pain would soon become a whimpering of praise. There was an urgency palatable in the room; everyone moved with diligence and purpose, and it wasn’t long, before a gusty wail shushed every other sound. ‘It’s a boy!’ the doctor exclaimed. ‘It’s a boy?’ the amazed mommy asked. ‘It’s a boy!’ the proud daddy confirmed.
Just across town, a second happened too fast, and momentarily, just before the crash, an entire lifetime ran through her mind. She heard her own voice apologize for not being there and having to work a second shift yet again, but deep down inside, she knew it was a choice she made every night willingly. It was financially beneficial, and to be honest, so much easier, working every shift she could plug herself into than to negotiate patience with her husband and corral her two kids these days. She felt the impact and tasted regret, and an epiphany hit her just before everything went black. ‘We just want your attention!’ she heard her family whisper as the lights went out.
On one side of the nation, news media pulled into town and began setting up every few miles along the spans of littered beach. Activity streamed everywhere. Contractors fought the gusts of wind as they nailed up final boards and harried mothers chased children back from the angry waves and toward waiting vehicles. Already a stream of brakelights dotted the highways. Patience was long since spent like coveted coins given to a child at a gumball machine, but Mother Nature didn’t waste any time of her fury as she blew into the beach community.
The opposite side of the nation had been facing its own fears for many months now as another forest went up in flames and the plumes of smoke puffed angrily toward the sky. It looked like enraged fists being impatiently shaken toward a silent God as the people cried for rain and relief, but the heavens remained sullen and expressionless. Man had spent His energy already; had sent Him away. Now they demanded His return, His rescue, but had yet to consider the perseverance and endurance, the restraint, that hovering took.
And yet, still, on a different day separated by another time zone and a faraway country, a massive explosion rocketed again. Debris flew, buildings shook, flames swept, roofs toppled, men hid, women crouched, children cried, angry men bullied, guns shot, patience ran out, people prayed. Decades shared secrets and whispered that sadly nothing had changed. The dust-clotted air permeated the airport as many languages mingled with one thing on foreign soil in common: fear.
Every scene above is fundamentally real and happening momentarily. There is a common thread woven through every story, and that is, the expectancy of what is to come next is unknown but eventual. The waiting will always wear itself out but there is also assurance in the waiting. The end result to every story varies—some horrific outcomes, some happy endings—but everything takes time and patience and expectancy. It is a given. While one cry heralds a joy another cry topples a nation, and time tramples it all and is no respecter of persons. There is One Who is above all and in all and has experienced all we have to face. He can also bear it all for us when we cannot.
It is ESSENTIAL for me to learn to be patient. Our God is extremely long-suffering, isn’t He?
Psalm 46:10, ‘Surrender your anxiety, cease striving, be still, and know that I am God.’ (Multiple versions)
