Resignation as President of WWA

I noticed something awesome the other day. King David was flat-out stupid about Bathsheba, and got himself in a big mess. He repented, and Bathsheba and David are one of the few couples in one of the genealogies of Jesus. Is that amazing, or what?

Everything—not just the bad stuff that wasn’t your fault—works together for good . . . for the people who love God enough to give him everything. It’s God who makes everything beautiful in its time.

But He doesn’t tell us when that time will be.

I might give the Lord a mess today, and it may be five minutes or twenty-five years before He makes it beautiful. Does it matter? If we have faith, then we can be just as happy with the mess as we can be when it becomes beautiful.

But . . .

By faith and patience we inherit God’s promises.

Patience isn’t just the ability to wait. Every one of us has the ability to wait—we don’t have a choice, in some instances. But that doesn’t mean we’re all patient.

Patience does not keep track of time. Just as love isn’t love if it keeps a record of how often it forgives someone, so patience isn’t patience if it is keeping track of how long it has to wait, or how many times it must repeat itself. When patience is teaching a child to tie her shoes, each repetition of the instruction is as though it’s the first time around, and as though it will be the last time. And if it repeats itself a hundred times, each time is the same. It isn’t counting.

When patience is waiting for God to make a mess into something beautiful, it doesn’t mark off the years as each December 31 passes. Each moment is as the first moment you believed, and could be the last moment you’ll need to believe. The next instant may be the one in which you see what you’ve been waiting for.

Because patience isn’t merely patience, it’s trust. When you trust someone, you are not holding a stopwatch on their work, or checking up on them every few minutes. In fact, proof of your trust is when you can go take a nap—you can rest—while they’re on the job.

God won’t come until you are sleeping. The bridegroom comes in the middle of the night. The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night—totally unexpected—a complete surprise. The kingdom of God doesn’t come with observation. It’s useless for you to rise up early . . .

There is no point in trying to see God come with your answer. You’ll never be able to do it. He won’t let you. If you’re looking for it at a certain time, from a certain place, He’ll come some other time, from some other place.

Give it a break.

Give God your mess. Act like you believe it’s in good hands.

And stop looking at your watch.

Thank you!

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