We all have a unique spiritual metabolism that indicates how we will individually digest information. Just because a truth or an opinion is openly declared does not mean everyone listening will immediately get on board and take a first bite of what is being offered. Our physical bodies are examples of how we metabolize spiritual truth. We each bring a unique interpretive process to the table based on where we are with the Lord, the chemistry of our personality, and our life experiences.

Prophetically, I have shared things about events and circumstances long before there were physical indicators of their existence. In some of those instances, a few people who read the content thought it was out of line. In some cases, what I shared was labeled as something akin to heresy. 

Early on when the pandemic began, I shared something about a coming challenge for pastoral leadership that seemed farfetched and impossible to imagine at the time. It was rejected by some who thought it to be overstated and uncaring. Immediately upon sharing that initial prophetic insight, my social media platforms and my phone lit up with comments and text messages from concerned pastors and other leaders who considered my insight out of step with reality and divisive. Over the last two years, the challenges presented in that word have come to pass. The silence of those initial critics is deafening.

We need to allow each other time to metabolize challenging words and information not currently working their way through our spiritual digestive tracts. Some of the greatest lessons I have learned in God’s Kingdom came when I realized what I adamantly rejected on a first go-around are things I now believe to be true. At the time of those initial rejections, my spiritual metabolism was not ready to receive what I was hearing. I appreciate those who did not give up on me in those early days. They modeled something I hope to live out as I navigate through my own understanding of reality.

We need to be gracious and patient with each other as we process uncomfortable topics. None of us are put together the same way. We each have different spiritual metabolisms and digestive timelines. This can be disconcerting when something we share is prematurely tossed aside because the hearers were not ready to process a truth or a warning. God has the power to adjust our spiritual metabolisms if we are willing to let Him, not our pride, do the adjusting.