Standing Patiently

As I’m reading, and mediating on all 3 Chapters of the book of Habakkuk one of the character traits of Habakkuk I hadn’t paid attention to before was Patience.

Hearing that word just brings a churning in my stomach. It is not a characteristic I like. It doesn’t give me what I want, now. I am sure you can all relate. It means there’s a waiting process. Not just a waiting process, which we already don’t want to do, but a specific kind of waiting. Well, specific to Christians. This patience is indicative to our lives being on display as a testimony for God’s goodness. It offers responsibility. Yike, never thought about it like that!😳

Habakkuk demonstrates the kind of patience to have while waiting on God, 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me...” He prayed and stood waiting for the answer.

Biblical patience isn’t tapping our fingers, pacing the floor. We don’t manipulate things to happen the way we want. But we wait to see what “he will say unto us...”

What if it’s not what we want to hear? Habakkuk goes on to say, “and what I will answer.” We are told in Scripture, “you have not because you ask not...” but then James 3 points out the key is our motives. What Habakkuk wanted wasn’t the direction God was going to take the Nation, yet God allowed the conversation with Habakkuk. Not so Habakkuk would be satisfied but so he might choose how to wait. In the end God’s plan and answer wasn’t changed. Habakkuk was!

What I learned about biblical “spirit-fruited” patience is the outcome doesn’t change God but changes Me. Just like Habakkuk was changed and settled into God and then into His answer, I need to do the same thing. You probably are saying, “Amen!”

Habakkuk made the choice, God was enough; 3: A Hymn of Faith

17 “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.”

Habakkuk couldn’t understand God’s answer. He may not even have liked it. Yet, He settled into God and knew that was the Perfect Answer. Not just for Him but for all that ailed and ails God’s Children.

While I wait, patiently, for His answer to something desperate on my heart I stand my post. With prayer, I stand my post. I wait not only for what he will say but I prepare my response. A response that will not change God’s plan but because he loves me, in His Son, He Will hear my heart and help me lean into Him. Possibly with tears. There may even be some disappointment but I will say like Habakkuk, “... THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH...”

Whether he answers in the affirmative or says, “No!”I will continue to stand in faith. Things could get worse before they get better. But the end result is my faith strengthens as I wait properly in spirit-fruited patience.

“He will make me walk on my high hills.” And guess what? The process doesn’t allow for an avoidance of patience. The only thing is how will it look on you or me? More importantly will it display our God’s majesty or make him appear weak to a watching world?