Praise God for this past week and what has felt like an eternity of waiting for the numbers to recover from the depths of a very moderate second quarter. I have had the benefit of seeing our warehouse completely full, packed from floor to ceiling with orders staged and those ready for shipment, and then in other seasons, completely empty. I’m eternally grateful for the lessons both conditions have offered through celebration and reprieve, but the wisdom in between remains unparalleled by anything gleaned from either of those two paradigms.
This weekend we hosted a back-to-school party for our 14-year-old. We had 15 young men in our house for one last Hoo-rah before school began. Water slides, billiards, swimming pool football and about a gazillion dollars in groceries topped the list. An inevitable all-nighter was in store and when my wife and six-year-old headed for bed, it was apparent who drew the short straw to burn the midnight oil with the boys. Things appeared to be going well until about 3AM when all of the groceries had been consumed and the teens ransacked our pantry like a pack of ravenous dogs. Despite my request to shut it down and get to bed, each one would attempt another assault under my radar as the night carried on and it finally hit home that I would need to outlast every single one of them if I planned to have any food left for my daughter’s party later that next day. I did eventually survive but not without losing my patience and my religion through the onslaught of all of them wanting more than was offered.
The alignment of the boys being unsatisfied with the $700 in pizza and groceries rides shotgun with how unsatisfied I can be when God tells me to be patient and wait on His clock as business ebbs and flows into and out of our hands. The number of times I return to the pantry looking for more is staggering. The number of times I have been unsatisfied with God’s perfect provision of the hour and the manna that lands in it, has been sobering. And yet, He remains exceptionally patient and kind, never once losing His temper and never once losing His wherewithal as His Holy Spirit convicts “through moans and groans” encouraging me to continue with “long obedience in the same direction”.
Examples of His patience adorns the pages of Scripture, that with Israel firmly planted as special and that with Job rooted as more than significant. He will forever be the tolerant Potter and what leaves me perplexed is how far that forbearance extends towards vessels of wrath and as Paul reminds, so much more to those of mercy. He is the Good Shepherd, my Savior and my Father, and when it comes time for me to shut it down and get to bed, I will follow because what He has already offered is more than enough, and more than I could ever possibly have barns to hold.
