How Much Time does it Take to Save a Soul?

I am always amazed at God’s patience. A counselor for 25 years, I confess I have often been impatient with some counselee’s slow growth. At those moments, God lovingly reminds me how long it has taken for me to learn and respond to His truth, especially in those stubborn parts of my flesh. One of my favorite verses in Isaiah (30:18) says “the Lord longs to be gracious to you … He waits on high to have compassion on you…” Imagine that! The Lord is waiting for me. Or put another way, I am keeping the God of the Universe waiting for me to grow up!

I am glad for this passage which assures me that the Lord knows it takes time for my “soul” to be saved. After all, He sent Moses into the desert for 40 years; and Israel too was in the Wilderness for 40 years. David had his wilderness period. Even Jesus was tested in the wilderness for 40 days.

While our spirit is saved in an instant, once for all, our soul is being saved gradually. Obviously, this requires time in the Wilderness.

In the Wilderness, God humbled and tested Israel. He allowed them to be hungry and thirsty so He could feed them supernaturally with bread from heaven and water from rocks. In other words, to be totally God-reliant. What a great picture this is of the saving our souls—learning to trust God alone, willingly submitting to Him, thus, growing in faith—and, as Paul says having as “the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls” (1 Peter 1:9).

Be patient with yourself. God is. Give yourself time. God does. But don’t be like Israel, who because of unbelief, spent more time in the wilderness than God intended. Do you want to be in the wilderness for 40 years or 40 days? God is waiting for your answer.

Listen to my teaching on Salvation of the Soul at http://www.well-of-life.org/audio/tot_t22_salvation_of_soul