Is your house like most? Is there a wall or a doorjamb with little pencil marks on it, signifying that growth has taken place. We had that wall in the house where I grew up. What we didn’t have was a variety of little marks – because I never grew. In fact, when I started the ninth grade I was only 4’9″ tall. (In case you’re wondering, car booster seat laws are now in effect for kids up to 4’9″ inches tall. Thank goodness this is a new thing. How embarrassing would it have been as a freshman in high school to have grabbed my booster seat any time I road home with someone else’s mom!)
Fortunately I started to grow that year – and in the next 18 months added 11 inches. Since that only got me to 5’8″, I hesitate to say that I am much of an expert on growth, but I can offer a few thoughts.
- Growth takes time. It takes a summer to grow a vegetable. It takes up to 18 months to grow a puppy. And it took 16 years to grow me to my full height. When God wants to grow us, He knows it’s going to take some time. When God asks us to wait, He may be providing that time. And by slowing down the rest of your life He may actually be speeding up your growth rate.
- Growth requires food. We really can’t grow ourselves – otherwise I wouldn’t have stopped growing when I did. And the same is true spiritually. I really can’t grow myself. But I can feed myself. And the waiting time is a great time to slow down and eat. It’s often a great time to spend extra time in the Word or in prayer. And as we do that, our faith starts to grow.
We know that at least seven of David’s psalms were written during the time that he was waiting to be king. He took advantage of that time to grow his relationship with God. And by doing so, he managed to get somewhere while he was going nowhere.
When all the dust of life settles, the real issue is going to be our relationship with God. That’s going to matter more than anything else, more than all that stuff that we’re waiting for and frustrated about. The real issue won’t be whether or not we sold our house or found a spouse or got a new job. The real issue will be how close we grew to God.
Are you tire of going nowhere? You can get somewhere. Just do what David did.
1. Keep your sheep.
2. Play your harp.
3. Slay your giant.
4. Build your army.
5. Wait your turn.
6. Grow your faith.
Filed under: Getting Somewhere When You're Going Nowhere
