The Process

These past few weeks I’ve had to relearn about processes. I thought I could bypass the process of recovery because I didn’t want to get behind on anything, but I learnt the hard (painful) way that you can’t cut corners with such a process. In fact, by trying to bypass processes, you risk hindering or complicating them. Each stage of a process is important if the desired outcome is to be reached. Regardless of how uncomfortable the stage might be, it must be endured in order for the process to be complete; for as much you are going through a process, the process is going through (working in) you.

All this made me think about the process we go through in order to be that which God has called us to be. When God calls us to a relationship with Him, He points out what He’d like us to be, which is what He’ll make us to be because no one comes to God already it. This making requires a process, for to make is not an overnight business. The intimidating thing about listening to God telling you His desired outcome is that it seems so unreachable, so much greater than what you are that you might think it is impossible. But God’s greatness is seen in exactly that, in His ability to make from nothing, just like how he did with all of creation.

Abraham is a perfect example of someone who is called to something greater by a great God he’s just come to know. God puts it plainly that He has a plan to ‘make’ Abraham into a great nation (see Genesis 12:2). God is saying this to an old childless man with an old barren wife. It took faith for Abraham to believe what God had said and so began the process. Somewhere along the process, he expresses his frustration for not having an heir for all that God has blessed him with (see Genesis 15:2) so him and his wife agree that he have a child through another woman seeing that it was Sarah who couldn’t have children and this was their last hope as Abraham was not getting any younger (see Genesis 16). Simply put, God’s process was taking too long.

It’s so important to trust God with the process, to trust that He sees the clock, that he understands all obstacles, that he is aware of all the challenges. If I fail to do so, I will disrupt the entire process by trying to ‘get things moving’. God was purposefully letting time go by because he wanted Abraham to lose all natural chances of having a child because then it would be clear that God’s hand had brought about the child.
After Abraham had Ishmael through Hagar, God clarifies things, telling him His plan had only Sarah in mind (see Genesis 17:19). As much as God accommodates Ishmael, he doesn’t alter His plan. That’s the nice part about God making you, he doesn’t cast you away when you fail, but when the clay gets marred in His hands, He forms it into another pot, shaping it as He sees best.

Ishmael later on became a threat to the promise child and had to be sent away with his mother. It is then evident that Abraham complicated the process. There were broken relationships and broken hearts as a result of him trying to rush the process. This emphasizes the need for patience and trust in God during the process.

I’ve grown a deep respect for processes and have been reminded that though it is a beautiful thing  to be called by God and to have Him paint a picture of the magnificent destiny He has called you to, you’ll need to abide by his guidelines every step of the way in order to get there. No matter how much you might feel that you’ve got it, never forget that only He knows the right way to where you need to be. He is only your Shepherd if you let him lead.