Embrace the process

“Embrace the process”

The first time I can recall hearing those words I was a 22 year-old youth pastor going through a difficult time. I can’t remember what that challenge was, but I sure remember the advice because everything in my soul was repelled by those words.

How could I embrace the very thing that was causing me so much pain? I just wanted to run the ball, in one glorious play, straight to the goal line—my preferred outcome—so I could put the process far behind me.

But because I was (and still am) a goal-oriented person, I was also starting to discover a manipulative dark side. I found that I would do whatever morally proper and ethical thing it took to get where I felt God was calling me to go. In my deep desire to serve those I led, I would make sure nothing got in the way of my preferred future. In fact, I was often applauded and platformed for my tenacity.

However, even if our actions are borne of right motives, avoiding a process makes us miss so much of what God wants to do in and through our lives; it’s in the journey that the Lord shapes our hearts and prepares us for what He knows (and we often don’t know) is ahead.

In Acts 21 to 23 the apostle Paul was being hard-pressed through a grueling process to get him where God wanted him to be, but I can guarantee that Paul wouldn’t have chosen the path that God used to get him there.

None of his friends would have chosen that path either! In fact, in chapter 21 there are two separate occasions where people with prophetic words warned Paul that major pain was certain if he didn’t change course. His associates begged him to avoid this reality; I’m sure they were thinking that if Paul evaded imprisonment he could continue to be highly effective for the gospel.

The prophesy turned out to be accurate, but if Paul had taken a shortcut it would have short-circuited God’s plans for his life, and for the church. In his seasons of imprisonment, Paul was not only able to share the gospel to various centers of power, but he also wrote many of the letters that make up much of our New Testament today. Just think, if Paul had remained on his apostolic tour he may not have had the time to write to the churches, nor would he have had the inclination to do so since he could have just planned a visit!

But Paul didn’t know any of that as he was hearing the mob in Jerusalem shout “away with him”. And just when Paul would have been wondering if he should have paid better attention to those who were encouraging him to take a shortcut, the Lord showed up to reveal some of the plan: “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11)

In other words, God was reminding Paul to “embrace the process”.

 He wants to remind you of that today, too.

To this day I remain tenacious and passionately committed to the goals I feel the Lord has given me, but I’ve also learned to embrace the processes that He may be leading me through. My soul has found rest in God’s presence that may lead me through the valley of the shadow of death so that I can dwell in His house forever (Ps 23).

And I’ve found that if I demand a particular outcome, I will often miss out on the process that God uses to shape me into His image; but that if I embrace His process—even when it doesn’t make sense to me—He will take care of the outcome and get me where He wanted me to be all along.