devoblog: Neil Peterson

2Josh • 11th Oct 2005 • blog entries, devoblog

Patience, Patience, Patience

Hello NorthSlope blog readers! This is Neil. I got to know Josh and Lydia during
their time in Nome while we were volunteers at KICY. We had great fun rotissering
chickens, four-wheeling and the like. Now I’m back home in Iowa where we are in
the midst of harvest. Well, actually, we’re done but there’s still work to do.
After harvest I’m going overseas whenever I get my fundraising done.

It’s true that I had this idea to share testimonies/devotionals here on NorthSlope and thought if Josh would ask me to write I’d write about the benefit of encouraging fellow believers. But I felt the Spirit working in a different way, so today I’m going to write about being patient and trusting in God.

I’ll start with a word picture. We’ve been having a pretty good harvest here, the yields are good, weather is nice, and the equipment is working for the most part. When we pick corn my dad runs the picker and I haul loads to the crib. We’re not the most modern farm. I haul loads with a 1951 Farmall M. It really lugs pulling a heavy load up a hill. But then when you get to the top and start down the other side, you think you’d really go fast. While you do speed up a little it’s not as much as you’d think. The load starts pushing the tractor but 4th gear on the M will only go so fast. It just makes the engine rev way up for a fractional increase in ground speed. You’d go almost as fast with no load behind the tractor.

I’ve been in the process of applying to be a short-term missionary. The official process of going through the Covenant is a bit more involved than missions I’ve been involved with in the past and, honestly, tries my patience. I get really frustrated with how slow the bureaucracy moves. Then I thought of hauling loads of corn. The application process only goes so fast. No matter how much I push the people in Chicago to get things done, the pace remains the same. But this is the path God has chosen for me. I may not understand why, but I need to accept the pace.

This whole process reminds me of the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. After all the miraculous plagues Pharaoh finally relents and lets the people go. They must be thinking about making a bee-line for the Promised Land. All milk and honey, right?

When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them on the road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Exodus 13:17a

So what happened? Why didn’t God do what made sense to the Israelites? First, he thought they might return to Egypt if faced with battle. But more importantly they had to learn to trust and obey God. Think of all the trials they faced on the journey to Canaan. They crossed the Red Sea, ate manna and quail, drank water from a rock, got the Ten Commandments, disobeyed, made a golden calf, the list goes on and on. God was preparing them; they weren’t ready to enter the Promised Land.

It’s like that in my life and probably in yours, too. We see something that God is going to do with us or for us and we want it now. I don’t want to wait around. I want to go and do what God has promised for me. But if I’m impatient I’ll miss the benefit of the time of preparation, and if I’m impatient I probably need a time of preparation! I also know that I can’t just sit and think things will happen. I need to keep pressing on toward the goal that God has given me. I like this quote from Oswald Chambers, There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends upon us, not upon God.

My prayer is to trust in God and to follow the path laid out for me. Asking God for the strength that I need when there are trials on the way. Knowing that God knows what is best, that His ways are higher than my ways. All the while being thankful for His companionship on my journey here on this earth. Amen.