Trust the Process
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:1:4
“Trust the process” is a slogan used by fans of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, though it has become popular elsewhere in sports and culture. Coined during a rough patch for the team, it means “things don’t appear to be happening, but a plan is unfolding.”
I’m sure those long-suffering 76er fans weren’t all that happy to be told to be patient and have faith. Yet over time the results they were looking for were finally realized.
In the same way, there are times when God puts things in our hearts (dreams, aspirations, goals) and He gives them to us right away. There are other occasions (and this seems to be more typical) when God makes us wait. And it’s then that we need to trust the process.
A King in Waiting
Take, for example, the case of my favorite biblical character, David. In I Samuel 16, the Lord says to Samuel the prophet, “I’ve rejected Saul as king. Go to the tribe of Jesse where I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
One by one, Jesse’s sons are brought before Samuel and he says, “The Lord has not chosen these. Are these all the sons you have?”
Jesse responds that there is yet another – the youngest – who is out tending the sheep. David is sent for and brought in. And the Bible tells us, “Then the Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; this is the one.’”
After reading about this, one might assume that David takes the throne immediately. But that is not what happens. We’re told that David goes back to watching the sheep.
There’s a part of me that wants to say, “Well, that doesn’t make any sense! Why would the Lord have David anointed king only to send him back to where he had been before?
The answer is that David needed to go through a developmental process. For example, he had a date with destiny in the form of a giant named Goliath.
David had military skills that needed to be developed as he became a leader in Saul’s army.
And David needed to learn to depend upon God alone when he was being hunted by a jealous King Saul.
God knew that some things needed to happen in David’s life before he was fit for the throne. Thus, there would be a necessary delay between the moment David was anointed king and the moment he was appointed king.
A Tree in the Making
When I think about trusting the process, I’m reminded of the story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree. It begins as a nut planted in soil that must be watered and fertilized every single day for five years before it finally breaks the surface of the ground. It seems that nothing is happening. Yet during that time, its roots deepen and spread.
And in that fifth year, the Chinese Bamboo Tree finally breaks through and grows to nearly ninety feet tall in just six weeks! It took those first five years when the root system was being developed to keep the tree from toppling over when grown.
We tend to get frustrated when we don’t see our dreams and aspirations sprout quickly. But the truth is there’s often a necessary process whereby some things have to happen in us before things can happen for us and through us.
I don’t know what you’re waiting for and hoping for. But remember the story of David. It took him many years of development until he was ready to “king it.”
Don’t let the passage of time make you bitter. Allow it to make you better. Simply trust the process.
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