We had just moved into a new house and were told the tree in the back yard was a pear tree. Once the fruit started appearing I checked almost daily. When it looked a little over 50% of the size a pear should be I decided to give it a try! DISGUSTING! The result was a chalky taste in my mouth and a pucker on my face. YOU CAN’T RUSH THE PROCESS AND EXPECT THE SAME RESULT.
For some reason we understand this in the natural sense but when it comes to our lives we tend to always think we are ready before we are ready. Everybody’s feet reached the pedals before we were ready to drive. Everybody’s body possessed the ability to reproduce before we were ready to parent children. It’s just normal to feel like we’re ready long before we are ready in almost every area of life. The shortest route to the Promised Land, many times, neglects the necessary struggle.
Ex 13:17-18 When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea… NLT
God sent them a different way because they needed to be prepared for another level of warfare or they would have turned back. Ask them and they were ready and they would have said they were.
God’s will is not always easy and some have turned back. Making the choice to grow through difficulty rather than to merely go through difficulty is a very important part of life. How can God use what has happening to you as something that is ultimately happening for you? Take your time and trust God to bring you through whatever he needs to bring you through to prepare you for whatever he needs to prepare you for in your future.
It’s a process and has little to do with what is visible in your life. The Brooklyn Bridge was being built and would connect Manhattan to Brooklyn over the East River. It would be the longest suspension bridge in the world, stretching over a mile from end to end. In June 1872, towards the end of the long and back-breaking construction, the Chief Engineer of the project explained that the general public might imagine that no work had been done on the bridge because they saw no evidence of it above the water. All of the months of work that had taken place on the foundation below the water line would equal all that would be visible above when finished.[1]
Everybody wants to be a diamond! Nobody wants to take the time to go through the process of pressure and heat it requires to get there! None of us will be the person we can be if all pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of our lives.
Previous faith for new levels will stress us out. Previous humility for new levels leaves us ill-equipped, untrained and unqualified for dangerous battles, conflicts and confrontations. God’s purposes are progressively revealed and gradually released as we become increasingly faithful with the seasons and stages at hand.
Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. (NLT)
Just because Jesus is in your boat doesn’t mean storms won’t come. It just means the boat won’t sink! Jesus is alive and we are going to make it to the other side!!! Many times God delivers us in the storm or in the fire rather than from the storm or from the fire. Keep trusting!!!
God is never too late but he sure misses a lot of chances to be early! It normally takes about 20 years to become an overnight success.
[1] The Great Bridge, published in 1972 by Simon and Schuster, written by David McCullough.