In The Process Of Time

How often we have heard it said that the world, especially Americans, live with a ‘microwave mindset’…we want it quick…we want it NOW! Pizza establishments even have a ‘Hot & Now’ deal, where you walk in, hand over the money and walk out, prayerfully with a hot pizza. There’s no wait and no fuss.

Everything in life is a process, but we don’t like to wait…

God forbid we are in a ‘fast food lane’ and they are super busy. I mean c’mon…they call it fast food for a reason, right? We don’t like to be delayed in where we perceive we should be at this point and time. Let’s get it and be on our way. And look out world if we are in a traffic jam or stopped by a freight train…heaven save us from having to wait!

But in the heat of the rush, we don’t stop to consider that the better meal is the one we take the time to cook ourselves, or one that, at the least, is prepared for us with tender care.

Neither do we consider that perhaps we are being directed by the Lord when we are made to detour or slowed on our journey. Folks will risk being pulled over by ‘The Boys’, or worse, before they think that they need to slow down and drive the speed limit.

Age has taught me that anything worth having and any destination worth reaching is best through the process of time. Time is a funny thing, because it can appear to drag on one moment and rush too fast the next. But the fact is, time is continued progress. It doesn’t stop for the less fortunate among us or change for the elite. It doesn’t speed up, but is consistently the same every day…forever.

If only we could remember this when attempting to go from point A to point B, how much easier it would be.

The Bible mentions “in the process of time” in five places (Genesis 4:3, 38:12; Exodus 2:23; Judges 11:4; II Chronicles 21:19). These passages speak about reaping a harvest, going to battle, and death.

The veggies we plant do not grow overnight. There is a season of tilling the soil and planting the seed. The ground must be consistently watered and carefully looked after so that the birds do not steal away what has been planted. And even after the corn and tomatoes begin to appear, they cannot be harvested ahead of their time. We must wait for the process of growth to be completed before we reap the benefit of our labor.

There is a process of time for everything…

One does not run out into battle without a time of preparation, in the natural and in the spiritual realm. It is a process of training and mental preparedness that needs precede frontline warfare. Only then, after intense training and the donning of the uniform of a soldier, that in the process of time will it seem feasible to fight the good fight.

Everything involves a process of time…

Spiritual growth is a process. One does not get up from the altar of salvation and through a miracle of God become a Bible scholar. Mature Christians are not born…they are made. The process is the same for all, but many become discouraged because they are not willing to crawl as a babe before they are able to run with the giants.

Folks cannot step over prayer, consecration, faithfulness, private devotion, lack a desire for the sincere milk of the Word, and think spiritual maturity is a given. They are fooling themselves and will die in the process.

Forgiving is a process, for sure. A minister once said, “God doesn’t give us amnesia so that we no longer remember the wrong done to us, but what He does is take the pain out of the memory.”

This comes through the process of time…I speak from experience. Just when I think I have forgiven, something comes along to bring it all back to the forefront. So once again, I must throw it back on the Lord, asking His pardon for picking up the junk again, and speak the words, “Lord, I forgive as I have been forgiven.”

It is not always an easy thing, but progress demands I go through the process. The reward of letting go far outweighs the pain of holding on. But it is not an overnight success story. It is a daily process of casting down imaginations and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Those who are successfully restored to freedom from hurt are those who have patiently allowed themselves to be healed.

Grief is a process, and again, I speak from experience. I have posted on this blog a couple of times about my nephew, John…he was 20 years old when he passed away. It was an extremely trying time for our family, and is something from which my brother and sister in law will never fully recover. Yet through it all, the hand of God has sustained them. It has almost been nine years and the process has been slow in coming, but God is a mender of broken hearts.

When we pass through the valley and grief is our constant companion, may we cling to the hand of the One who says, “Lo, I am with thee always…” The Lord says “lo” to call to our attention that He is with us every step of the process. The Lord of hosts is our strength and our comfort.

In whatever state you are in today, I encourage you to allow yourself to go through the process. Time heals all wounds, and it also wounds all heels…

So let us give God time to do His thing and bring us to the place of victory we so desperately need. We shall pray mercy on any offenders along the way and strength that we might hold out until the process of time for healing the hurt has come to pass. And therein is the victory, that in knowing trials don’t come to stay, but will come to pass in the process of time.

May we walk on, taking one step at a time, for as long as it takes…giving ourselves time to grow and mature in forgiveness and healing, forever and always whole and complete in Christ Jesus.