then after fourteen years i went up again to jerusalem with barnabas, taking titus along with me.
[galatians 2:1]
it can be easy to overlook it, but Paul’s traveling and church planting still took a long time. it is true that God did a miraculous work radically growing the early church under the apostles’ ministry, but don’t let that make you think it wasn’t still long, laborious work for paul and the other apostles. “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness” (2 peter 9a) but he does not always work on our preferred timeline!
Lord, teach us to patiently labor as we wait for your leading and your deliverance. complete the work of steadfastness in us, that we may not grow weary of doing the work set before us, no matter how long it takes.
~ stephen hall