Patient endurance is what you need now

When we face circumstances that don’t make any earthly sense, God doesn’t want us to ask how. He wants us to say, “I don’t know how and I don’t have to know how, because my God is faithful and capable.”

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Several months ago I decided I was going to spend an entire day with the Lord. I had blocked my calendar for the day and replaced everything with Jesus. Like so many of us, I had a list of things I needed answers for. A fully devoted day with Jesus seemed like the only solution. I was looking forward to it.

I hiked down the side of our bluff to platform three and began unpacking my list to the Lord. For the next several hours I told Him everything He already knew about my situation. I asked Him how He was going to take care of it. Throughout the entire conversation, I could hear Him reassure me. I could feel His presence.

Yet, I wouldn’t stop asking Him how it was going to happen, how He was going to take care of it all.

How? What a rude question to ask the Creator of the universe. Even though He’s not mad about the question, it does, however, show that I’m second-guessing His ability to accomplish something and reveals my lack of complete surrender.

Why does it matter how God does things?

I don’t know how He parted the Red Sea, yet that didn’t stop the Israelites from walking across it on dry land. I have no idea how Jesus and Peter walked on water. It doesn’t make it any less true because I don’t know how it happened. I’m so annoyed with myself sometimes for questioning how God is going to fulfill His promises in my life.

We have four platforms on the side of our bluff that lead to our dock. I spent hours talking to the Lord and pacing between platform 2 and platform 3 that day. I would pray, worship, quote Scripture, pray some more, and occasionally listen. I was serious about getting some answers, but I was asking the wrong questions. I wanted to know how and when. Where is the faith in that? Not knowing how and when something is going to happen and still believing it’s going to happen is the essence of faith.

Instead of the Lord telling me how or when, I heard Him say, Open your Bible. I don’t always believe in the flip the Bible open to wherever it lands method, but that’s what I did that day. God is funny. The Scripture I opened up to said, “Patient endurance is what you need now” (Hebrews 10:36 NLT). I laughed out loud and wrote in my Bible, “Yes, I do!” The Lord then led me to Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I began to read about all of these great acts of faith. They are inspiring. Any time we need a faith boost, Hebrews 11 is a great place to start. This time as I read the stories I was enlightened in new ways. The Lord pointed out to me that Noah had never even seen rain before. He was told to build a massive boat because it was going to rain. What? Water was going to fall from the sky? It had only come up from springs in the earth. I’m sure Noah had to wonder how was water falling from the sky even possible. Yet, he obeyed the steps God gave him, built a boat, and it rained.

Abraham was told to go to a land he had never been to before. He started walking not knowing where he was going. How was he going to get somewhere if he didn’t know how to get there? He took one step at a time. Sarah had already gone through menopause. There were no eggs left in our girl. She was past the age of childbearing, yet, she definitely had a baby. How?

When we face circumstances that don’t make any earthly sense, God doesn’t want us to ask how. He wants us to say, “I don’t know how and I don’t have to know how, because my God is faithful and capable.”

I needed to remember that the Lord is for me. If He is for me, then what can possibly be against me (Romans 8:31 NLT)? Just because I don’t know how, doesn’t limit the Lord. The only thing that limits the Lord from working in my life is my lack of trusting Him (James 1:6-7 NLT). If Noah, Abraham, and Sarah had waited to trust God until after they learned how and when, there would have never been a boat, a promised land, or a child.

You better believe I repented that day. I told the Lord I was so sorry for not trusting Him. I asked Him for patient endurance. Since that day I’ve seen some pretty amazing things the Lord has done in my life. Many of the things on my prayer list from that day on the platform have been checked off in ways that far surpassed how I thought they would happen. I would never have expected Him to move in my life the way He chose to move. It was far better and greater than my limited thinking.

The Lord was right. Whenever I stopped asking how and when and began to trust Him fully, the answers began to come.

I’m still waiting for some answers. I won’t be asking the Lord how they’re going to happen. I’m over here patiently enduring (some days more than others). When I find myself getting restless and questioning God’s methods and timing, I calm myself, think about that day with God, and say, “Lord, I trust You.”

A black and white portrait of DaySpring contributing author Tyra Rains.

Tyra Rains is a wife, mom, coco, friend and author of "Virtue: Living Uncommon in a Common World." Her passion is pastoring alongside her husband and making sure everyone she meets encounters the goodness of God. Tyra loves time with her crew, laughing, sunshine and jeepin’. Learn more about her at http://wearevirtue.org/.