Takes a Little Time

“Keep waiting, Keep hoping, Keep trusting, Keep going. You’ll be glad you did.”

Loren Thornburg

Patience is not an easy thing. To be able to wait without becoming annoyed or anxious is not easily attained. I get impatient waiting at a stop light, which is less than a few minutes, so I can understand how hard it can be when we are waiting weeks, months, years to see something change. We all have things that we have been waiting and hoping for a long time. It can be hard to continue to wish and hope and desire for something to look differently when we see it look the same. However it takes time. Like a fruit that is ripening you have to give it time until it is ready. If you pick it too early you will wish you had waited longer to fully enjoy it. I don’t want to give up or miss out on the joy available to me if I had only given it a little time and waited a little longer. “It takes a little time sometimes”...so as Amy Grant sings,“give it time”...we will be glad we did.

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God...Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.”

Romans 12: 1,12 AMP

Paul has just spent 11 chapters speaking of doctrine and here in 12 he begins to encourage readers, and to encourage us with what this doctring looks like in the daily outworking. It means continuing when it’s hard, but not just continuing but continuing with joy and hope by prayer. It is waiting, it is remaining, it is continuing, it is persevering; but it is not without reason. For as Paul begins this chapter he says to do so in view of the mercies of God. We don’t wait or endure without reason. We have hope. It is by this hope we can rejoice. By this hope we can remain steadfast and keep waiting in patience through suffering and tribulation. By hope we can pray constantly. Yes, when keeping in mind His mercies we can hope, even still, even now, nevertheless. Hope remains, therefore we can continue to remain hopeful as we wait.