You are blessed
Kyla, our oldest daughter who is a freshman in college, shared a lesson she learned in psychology class about delayed gratification. Her professor taught Kyla and her peers about a 1960s psychological study by a Stanford professor named Walter Mischel as an example.
Professor Mischel and his team tested hundreds of children between the ages of 4 and 5 years old. They brought each child into a room, sat them down and put a marshmallow on the table right in front of them. Then the researcher told the child they were leaving the room and if they didn’t eat the marshmallow, when they returned, the child would receive a second marshmallow. After the brief speech, the researcher left for 15 minutes with a camera rolling to see whether each child would wait or not.
Some children ate the marshmallow immediately after the researcher exited. Some did their best to wait, but finally succumbed to temptation. There was even one child that ate the marshmallow while the researcher was in the middle of giving instructions. That was funny. But a few of the children successfully waited the whole 15 minutes without gobbling up the sugary, fluffy treat.
The research study, known as The Marshmallow Experiment, which was first published in 1972, did not end with the children in the room. The study actually tracked the participants into adulthood. And fascinatingly, those that exercised delayed gratification as children, fared better in life as adults. They were more successful than those that didn’t wait. Turns out the discipline of waiting leads to more prosperity.
While waiting is necessary in everyday life, it is especially important in God’s Kingdom. Exercising patience, which is a fruit of the spirit according to Galatians 5:22, positions you to receive blessings from the Lord. Lamentations 3:25 ESV says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
So if you learn to wait on God and seek His will, pray in earnest and trust Him through the process, He will show forth His goodness in your life. He will do awesome things for you. In Psalm 40, David said, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” David also said God pulled him out of a horrible pit and gave him a new song to sing!
“God is pulling you out of this pit because you have trusted Him through the worst and believed Him for the best. Good things are about to happen for you! ”
Perhaps you are in a horrible pit, a low place, or a deep, dark valley of despair. You don’t see your way out. You’re facing challenges: financial turmoil; relationship woes; job loss; sickness; mental health challenges; or some devastating reality that you don’t know how to handle. You want to get out of this dark pit, but don’t know what to do.
The Lord’s response to you today is wait and trust your way out.
When you wait upon the Lord and place your confidence in Him, He will richly reward you. He will bring you out of that dark, low place of defeat and elevate you to the mountaintop of triumph. Just remain full of faith with an attitude of gratitude and God will show up for you. He will rescue you. He will move in your favor.
In Psalm 40:4, David said, “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.” The one who keeps their eyes focused on God and believes that He is who He says He is, and that He will do what He says He will do, is blessed. If that describes you, no matter what it looks like or what your circumstances say, you are blessed. You are favored. God will shower you with His goodness. He will move on your behalf. He will work this out for you. He will elevate you. He will increase you. He will do the impossible for you.
Right now, in the midst of what you’re going through, trust God and wait on Him. Watch Him deliver you. Watch Him bring you out. Watch Him show you just how blessed you are. Friend, if you have been trusting and remaining steadfast, know that good things await you and they are going to show up in your life.
To remind you of this truth, I’m stirring a portion of Jeremiah 17:7 NIV into your cup of inspiration, which says, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, know who you are. You are a son—a daughter—of the King. God’s favor is on your life and so, too, is His hand of blessing.
Now let’s pray.
God, thank You for reminding me that there is a blessing in waiting on You and trusting in You. So no matter how long it takes, or how rough the road, I will continue to stand firmly in faith, believing that You will cause all things to work together for my good. For this I thank You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
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