Meditation
 
God’s Perfect Timing                              Dr. Joseph Stowell
 
“The Fruit of the Spirit is……… Patience…….” Galatians 5:22
 
We’ve all heard the prayer “Lord, make me more patient–and do it now!” If patience is a virtue, most of us have a way to go. Ask moms, those of us who get caught in traffic, teachers, and anyone who serves the public, and they will tell you that being patient is a challenge. While learning to wait with a good Spirit is hard, it’s clear that God wants us to grow in this area. After all, patience is a fruit of the Spirit.
 
There is a good probability that our struggle with patience is unsuccessful because we have been trying to focus on being patient with people. But the issue is not the people who push us to the edge; it is rather our inability to focus on what God is doing when He puts us in His waiting room. God wants us to learn to wait patiently for Him because He is working as we wait. In reality, patience waits for Him.
 
God waits for the sake of our growth. We grow by crisis. When everything is going well, I’m tempted to coast. But let some crisis impact me and immediately I become sensitive to God. When God “grows” us, it often takes pressure, and it always takes time (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).
 
God waits for the sake of His glory. God often seems to wait until we have moved into the arena of the impossible. Then He acts so that a watching world will know that He is the true and living God. In this way, we know firsthand the reality of His power on our behalf.
 
God waits because He works in our fallen world. He works His plans and purposes in our lives, through politics, economics, and the ordinary complexities and inconveniences of life in the midst of Satan’s domain. No wonder it’s slow going.
 
One thing we can be sure of… God’s time is always the right time. Patience is not learning to wait for others; it is learning to wait on God and cooperating with His work in our lives.
When impatience threatens, ask what God is doing and willingly wait for Him to finish His work.