Go Slow

Read

Genesis 29:20 "So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her."

Think

There is a guy in the Bible named Jacob who saw a woman named Rachel and fell hard. The Bible says that the first time they kissed, it was so intense that Jacob started weeping. That is a first kiss for the ages right there.

But here is what makes Jacob’s story remarkable. He did not rush. He served her father, Laban, for seven years to earn the right to marry her. Seven years. And the Bible says something stunning about that stretch of time: “They seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.”

Think about that for a second. Seven years of waiting, and it felt like a few days. That is not the language of a man gritting his teeth and counting down a calendar. That is the language of a man so rooted in the rightness of the relationship that time became secondary. Jacob was not in a hurry because he was not in doubt. He had the patience to go slow because he had the confidence that it was real.

Whenever someone comes to me and they are excited about a big life decision, whether it is a relationship, a career move, a major purchase, or a ministry direction, one of the first things I tell them is this: Go slow. Go slow and get to know. If it is right at ninety miles an hour, it will still be right at thirty-five. And you will see a lot more of the scenery along the way.

I have a sign I keep in the back of my mind for moments like this. It just says one word: SLOW. Every time you go through another month, another quarter, another year of getting to know a situation, you make a better decision. Every month that passes, you get a better read on the character involved. You get a clearer picture of the patterns. You see things that speed hides from you.

But speed is what our culture runs on. We want the overnight answer. We want the instant result. We want to skip the seven years of serving and jump straight to the wedding. And that impulse, that desire to accelerate past the process, is where so many of our worst decisions are born. We confuse urgency with importance. We confuse emotion with direction.

Hormones and excitement and fear of missing out can make us think we need to act right now. But those are not reliable guides. They create a fog that hides the road signs God has placed along the way. Jacob did not have that fog because his patience kept the windshield clear. He could see the road because he was not driving too fast to read the signs.

Here is the deal. Patience is not passive. Jacob was not sitting in a recliner for seven years. He was serving. He was working. He was building a life and a reputation and a track record during those years. Patience does not mean you stop moving. It means you stop rushing. It means you let the process do what the process is designed to do, which is reveal truth over time.

Some of you are in the middle of a seven-year season right now. You are waiting for a relationship to become clear. You are waiting for a career to develop. You are waiting for God to open a door that has been closed longer than you expected. And you are tempted to force it. You are tempted to speed up the timeline because the waiting feels unbearable.

But what if the waiting is the point? What if God is using the slow season to build something in you that speed would have bypassed? What if, like Jacob, the seven years are not a delay but a development? What if, when you look back, those years will seem like only a few days because you were exactly where God wanted you to be?

I have watched people rush into business deals that fell apart within a year because they did not take the time to vet their partner’s track record. I have watched people jump into ministry positions before they had the maturity to sustain the weight. I have watched families uproot and move across the country for an opportunity that looked perfect on paper but crumbled under the reality of daily life. And in almost every case, the person told me afterward, “I should have gone slower. I should have asked more questions. I should have given it more time.” Speed hides what patience reveals. That is not a cliche. That is a law of life.

Go slow. I know it is hard. I know it is countercultural. But every important thing in your life deserves the kind of patience that Jacob gave Rachel. Seven years of serving, and it felt like days. That is what happens when you trust the process and trust the God who designed it.

Apply

Slow down one decision – Identify the decision you are most tempted to rush right now. Commit to waiting at least one more month before acting on it. Use that time to pray, seek counsel, and let God reveal what speed would have hidden.

Pray

Father, I confess that patience is not my strength. I want to rush ahead, force open doors, and skip the waiting season. But your word shows me that the best things come through faithful, patient endurance. Give me the kind of love that makes seven years feel like days. Help me to trust your timing even when I do not understand it. Teach me to serve during the slow seasons and to keep my eyes on you while I wait. In Jesus’ name. Amen.