We live in a microwave culture. We want everything NOW! We
eat fast food, and get angry when we are stuck behind someone driving the speed
limit. Texting and the internet allow us instant communication. And we want
instant results when our lives need to change.
I’m working through Enhancing Your Marriage by Judy Rossi
right now with a bunch of ladies over the internet. The strange thing about
this study is that we are beginning week 4 and still haven’t learned anything
about marriage. I was skeptical at first, but as I have taken time to consider
my own spiritual life, I’ve realized that my marriage can’t grow much if I
don’t change and grow first.
When I see attitudes and character qualities in my life that
need to change, I think I should be able to pray a quick prayer and presto –
the fruit of the Spirit will be perfectly lived out. I have spent so many years
asking God to change my heart and mind without seeing the results I expected.
OK, until the last couple of years, I was trying to change
in my strength instead of trusting God to change me. I still clung to my pride
and selfishness. I wanted to change some or only in some areas. That just isn’t
how God works. He asks for all of our heart and soul and mind and strength.
As I have learned to yield to Him, I have still been
frustrated by how easily I fall into old habits. I still want that quick fix.
As I read Exodus this week there was a verse that I hadn’t noticed before.
(Does that happen to you too? A verse jumps out at you that you have read a
hundred times before and never noticed.)
“Little by little I will drive them out before you, until
you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” (23:30) God was
going to remove the inhabitants of the Promised Land, but not all at once. If
He did, wild animals would have taken over much of the territory. If God worked
little by little, the population of the Israelites would increase so they could
inhabit all of it.
The same is true of our spiritual lives. If God revealed
everything that needed to change at once, we would be overwhelmed and give up.
So God works like a sculptor, patiently chipping away at a piece of marble
until a masterpiece is revealed. When I look back over the last couple of
years, I see how I have changed and grown. No, I am not where I think I should
be, but I’m not the person I was either. God continues to work. “He says trust
me. If I brought you into this, I’m going to bring you through it. JUST DO AS I
COMMAND AND WATCH ME REVEAL MYSELF.” (Judy Rossi)
So I will give God my life and my obedience and will trust
Him to change me in His time.
