14 Years of Patience
I’ve been reading the book of Genesis the last few weeks, and I wanted to share something I read yesterday. Check out Genesis 29:13-30.
In these verses, Jacob agrees to work seven years for his uncle Laban in order to marry Laban’s daughter Rachel. After 7 years, Laban tricks him into marrying his oldest daughter Leah and tells Jacob that their custom is that the oldest daughter marries first. So Jacob has to work another 7 years in order to finally marry Rachel.
That’s a long time and a lot of energy to get something you want! The Old Testament is full of stories of people who had to wait a while to get what they promised or desired.
I don’t know about you, but I get really impatient. If there’s something I want, I struggle to wait 7 months or even 7 weeks to save up the money. At work, it’s hard to think about the long term. We want promotions and raises every year, or two. Not every 10 years. At times, I can’t wait 7 days or even 7 hours for things to happen. Talk about impatient…
But God’s timing is not our timing. His plans are not our necessarily our plans. But Scripture tells us that God has a perfect plan for our lives. Our job is to pray to God that He will reveal His plans, and then wait patiently for the answer. It might take 7 years, or even more…
How do you cope with waiting to get what you want?
Genesis 29:11 “And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.”
This man broke down in tears when he kissed Rachel for the first time. Their story really is amazing, and his patience is almost embarrassing to me! I am the same way, I very little patience… that will be something I pray about this week.
ditto, no patience here. I wonder if its just part of our culture? I get impatient waiting in the drive thru for a stinking burger!