Enduring Seasons: Finding Hope and Patience in Long-suffering

Long-suffering isn’t one of those words that I want to be part of my story.  But the reality is that we will all have a season of long-suffering.  During a season of long-suffering I have to show patience despite the troubles I am going through.  

I’m so very thankful that the Bible is filled with scripture that encourages me when I feel as if I cannot endure one more second of the suffering I’m going through.  

In Jeremiah 29, the children of Israel got the news that they were going to be held in captivity in Babylon for seventy years.  Consider how long seventy years is.  If I had to go to prison for seventy years I would die in captivity.  Seventy years seems impossibly long, very much unfair, and terribly difficult.  It would seem as if it were a lifetime of hardship without a lifetime filled with hope.  

Look at what God told the children of Israel:  “ When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place”  Jeremiah 29:10

Right here is where I get the familiar promises that I can cling to during these times when I’m in a season of long-suffering.

“ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you.”  
Jeremiah 29:11-14

God is assuring His people that His plans are for their welfare and not to hurt them.  He also tells us what we must do while we wait for Him to fulfill His promise.  

When we seek God, we see God at work in our lives.  If our hearts are willing to trust Him, He will entrust to us more of His perspective.  

If we want to see God in our circumstances , we must seek Him, His ways, and His Word. This is where we will find His plans for good and His promises of hope and a future.

Cry out to Him in the midst of your suffering.  Seek Him and ask Him to help you see your circumstances in the way that He sees them.  In our circumstances when we feel forgotten and we don't know how things are going to work out, know that He is close to us and has not forgotten us.  Remember that “ not yet” does not mean “ not ever.”

This verse is one that I use almost every time I’m in the pulpit.  I’ve had to cling to this scripture during many times of difficult trials throughout my life.