Slowly, Surely

I've never been a patient person. I like tasks done quickly. There seems to be an internal schedule in my head constantly reminding me, within reasonable constraints, of what should be out and what should be done on a daily, monthly, and annual basis. And where I should be at a certain point in time. I dislike waiting.

I am certain this does not strike any of us as surprising. Why? For the simple reason that we know, from personal experience, that every day and almost on a regular basis, we find ourselves handling deadlines as they fall due. Some days, we're miles ahead of them. Other times, we beat them by a hair's breadth. All sorts of deadlines - personal, professional. And everywhere imaginable - left, right and centre. We're surrounded by them.

Current zeitgeist impresses on us that if we're not fast enough, if we can't get things done as they happen, that's tantamount to disaster. We're seen as incompetent, substandard, inadequate. Add to that the fact that often, there's a penalty for missing a deadline. You're served notice, someone threatens to sue, you get demoted. Either way, you're made to pay for not being fast enough. For missing deadlines.

When it comes to prayerful petitioning, we tend to be impatient too. I tend to be, admittedly. For example, when I ask "Lord, make me a better person" or "Lord, let my trainees learn and not forget" - there are two things I am certain of. One is God will grant the request. Second is I always think it will come soon. I'm always wrong when it comes to the second one.

Why does God, almighty and powerful, make us wait? I could throw you all the arguments and the verses, but here is one article which I feel captures it all.


Why Does It Take So Long?
by Rick Warren

“The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once” (Deuteronomy 7:22 NLT).

Although God could instantly transform us, He has chosen to develop us slowly. Jesus is deliberate in developing His disciples. Just as God allowed the Israelites to take over the Promised Land “little by little” so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed, He prefers to work in incremental steps in our lives.

Why does it take so long to change and grow up? There are several reasons.

We are slow learners. We often have to relearn a lesson forty or fifty times to really get it. The problems keep recurring, and we think, “Not again! I’ve already learned that!”—but God knows better. The history of Israel illustrates how quickly we forget the lessons God teaches us and how soon we revert to our old patterns of behavior. We need repeated exposure.

We have a lot to unlearn. Many people go to a counselor with a personal or relational problem that took years to develop and say, “I need you to fix me. I’ve got an hour.” They naïvely expect a quick solution to a long-standing, deep-rooted difficulty. Since most of our problems—and all of our bad habits—didn’t develop overnight, it’s unrealistic to expect them go away immediately.

There is no pill, prayer, or principle that will instantly undo the damage of many years. It requires the hard work of removal and replacement. The Bible calls it “taking off the old self” and “putting on the new self” (Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:22-25; Colossians 3:7-10, 14).

Growth is often painful and scary. There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. We fear these losses, even if our old ways were self-defeating, because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they were at least comfortable and familiar.

Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new.