Mind the Transition

“I’m not patient,” I snap back.

And isn’t that the lesson? Patience.

A friend told me the other day that Solomon taught on patience more than anything else in Proverbs and his other books – and of course I had to fact-check him. I always believed that Proverbs was about wisdom – I was looking at the surface of the book – my friend was looking at the lessons themselves (can I say we were both right?). What I read in a random Google search was, “’wisdom is the pouring out of patience,’ meaning that true wisdom is demonstrated through the ability to be patient, implying that a wise person can calmly endure difficult situations and respond thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively; it essentially suggests that patience is a key component to wisdom.”

“A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” (Proverbs 19:11)

Reacting impulsively and not overlooking an offense feels like my staple these days, and that’s the problem (my problem), isn’t it? I have felt like a fraud or a hypocrite writing these, because I have struggled to live out the words the Lord has given me to type to the point where I didn’t want to write this. Steve Furtick said in his sermon this past Sunday that, “I may not feel worthy or deserving, but we serve a God who is both worthy and deserving.” So, I write His words to me to give Him the glory and to remind myself (and maybe you) that He is with you in the transition periods of your life, and you may not feel like you are up for it, but He is deserving.

I started a study recently on Joshua, and the introduction talks about how Joshua is the bridge or the link between the writings of Moses (the Pentateuch) and the rest of scripture. Joshua is our transition to what will be the Christmas story. Through Joshua, God leads the Israelites into the Promised Land, which paves the way for everything else to take place that gives us Ruth and Boaz, King David, Solomon, Esther, Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and eventually the story of the manger. Now we’re talking about a whole different transition from fall to Christmas.

One of my favorite verses comes from Joshua – in fact God commands Joshua four times of it in the first chapter of the book alone.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

What did God command Joshua? Is the question I ask my boys every night before they go to bed. They always miss that last part and I will always whisper it back to them at the door of their rooms: “God is with you.”

I can’t fault them though, because so do I (and I’m sure you do too). It is easy to forget when the hard times are swallowing you up and the pain and grief are consuming you, it’s hard to stand on promises, it’s hard to find the posture to praise –to remember that God is with you amidst the chaos. He knows that transitions are hard. He knows what you are facing and He is with you. The same Steven Furtick sermon I mentioned earlier, Steven points out “that we rush right past the revelation that God wants to give you because you only recognize what is being taken away.” In another sermon, he says, “God will sometimes take something away to remind you of something you’re not using.” What are you focusing on? What are you not using? God is putting you back together, but where is your attention?

Our Jericho might look a little different than the walls that Joshua faced, but think of all that would have been lost in the transition if Joshua hadn’t been patient and marched around those walls for seven days? There are whole stories God is waiting to show you (to show me). After all, the farmer does not think of the loss of the seed when it is planted, but what the seed will produce. (Credit to Steve Furtick)

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

I know it’s hard, but don’t rush through the transition…