The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“God is not a man, that he would lie, nor a son of man, that he would change his mind; has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?”

—Numbers 23:19

God will always do what he says, but it’s often not on our timeline. It’s easy to lose heart, think we misheard, and grow weary.

Our seasons of waiting may grow long. Joseph was in slavery and prison for thirteen years. Abraham and Sarah waited twenty–five empty years for their promised son. Moses was a shepherd for forty years before God brought him back to the task of freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt—a task at which Moses had likely long since believed he’d failed.

Our job in the waiting is to follow him faithfully. We don’t yet have what we hope for, but we wait for the Lord in patience (Romans 8:24).

I think of godly patience as waiting with trust. We long for the promise, and often we can’t see how God could possibly fulfill it. That’s why we need hope and faith . . . neither would be necessary if God always acted on our timeline. So we continue our journey, knowing that he is in control, he loves us, wants good for us, and cannot lie.

If we’re still waiting, let’s not give up or grow bitter. We can remember his promise and rest upon it, living the lives we have faithfully following him even when it feels like slavery, prison, emptiness, or failure.

The fulfillment of the promise is always worth the wait.

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