Waiting

Waiting is hard. I’ve tried ten different ways to start this blog post and it really all comes down to three words:  waiting is hard. At least it is for me. You?

I’m not talking about waiting for the little, insignificant things like waiting at a stoplight (although, to be totally transparent, I’d really rather just breeze through a green light). I’m talking about waiting for God to move, to answer those “impossible,” faith-stretching prayers of ours.

Have you ever noticed how God’s timing is rarely ever our timing? Considering He is above, or outside of, time and that He’s omniscient, I guess that makes sense…in a He’s-God-and-I’m-not kind of way. But just because it makes sense doesn’t mean I like it.

Why do I dislike waiting so much? I didn’t have to dig deep to realize it’s a control issue. I want things in my time. I want them when I want them. Can you relate?

We have various seasons of waiting in our lives don’t we? Maybe you’re waiting for a promotion or a raise. Maybe you’re waiting to sell or buy a house. Maybe you’re waiting to get pregnant. Maybe you’re waiting for someone you’ve been praying for to finally accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Maybe you’re waiting to be healed from a medical issue — to be freed from your symptoms or your pain.

Waiting can produce a number of different responses in us. We can begin to feel stressed or anxious. Is God going to do this? Is He not? When is He going to do it? Am I going to be ready? We might begin to feel discouraged or depressed and think that God isn’t going to do what we are praying He will do.

Knowing that waiting is a struggle for me (and maybe for you too), I have a question for us to work through. How should we wait? In other words, what kind of attitude should we have while we wait? What kind of posture should we take? I think what we discover will help us be radiant as we wait.

In the Bible, we find numerous examples of people who waited. However, the one that has come to mind over and over again for me is Abraham and Sarah. You can find their story in Genesis 15 and following. Abraham, who is well along in years, is lamenting that he doesn’t have an heir, most specifically, a son.

God graciously honors that desire of Abraham’s heart and tells him that he will be the father of many nations and that Sarah (who is beyond child-bearing years) will bear him a son. What was their response? How did they wait for God to fulfill His promise?

There was definitely some shock and disbelief. I mean, let’s face it, Sarah gave a whole new meaning to “advanced maternal age,” (a label I had by the way when I was pregnant). God had to tell them at least five times that Sarah would be the one to bear Abraham a son.

I’m sure they had their good days and their bad days as they waited. At one point, they took matters into their own hands and Sarah gave Abraham her servant, Hagar, who bore him a son. While this may have been culturally acceptable, it wasn’t God’s intention for fulfilling His promise. I’m tempted to fault them for trying to make it happen, but I, too, am guilty of trying to make things happen, when instead I should just be waiting on God.

All in all, by my count, Abraham and Sarah waited at least 15 years from the time God told them they would have a son to the time Isaac was born. 15 years! That’s a long time to wait.

There was a time in my life when I was lamenting the fact that I didn’t have a Mr. Right in my life. If you watched my Impossible Prayer video, you know that story. At some point during that period of waiting, I heard a song by John Waller called, While I’m Waiting, that God used to convict me of how I was waiting. If you click on the link above you can listen to the song and watch the video, which has scenes from the movie, FIREPROOF.

Here are some of the lyrics that caught my attention:

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint

God used that song to simultaneously convict me and encourage me. He convicted me that I needed to stop making what I praying for more important than the One I was praying to. I also needed to stop wishing away my present, and thus discounting what God was doing in it, for an unknown future.

God used While I’m Waiting to encourage me to keep moving forward in obedience, serving Him and worshipping Him.

I later came across something else that helped me put my waiting into perspective (I wish I could remember the source of this quote). “What God does in you while you wait might be just as, if not more, important as what you’re waiting for.”

Sometimes I forget to ask, “what is God’s purpose for this time of waiting in my life?” Maybe if I asked Him that, it would help me see how He is working.

Though waiting can produce stress, anxiety and discouragement, God can use it to help us trust in Him, rely on Him and grow our faith.

Psalm 27:14 says, “Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord.” The meaning behind that verse has to do with not fainting, not giving up, finding our hope, trust and strength in God. He will strengthen our hearts so that we can keep doing our daily tasks as we wait for Him.

What if we waited with an attitude of expectancy? Instead of hemming and hawing and thinking God isn’t going to move or answer our prayer favorably, what if we just hoped and trusted in Him? The Bible tells us if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

What if we waited with an attitude of humility? Sometimes I tend to think I’ve earned whatever it is I’m asking for. Don’t we all do that at times? “I’ve worked really hard, I’ve earned that raise.” Or maybe it’s, “we have scrimped and saved, we deserve that house.” While you might have worked hard, and that’s to be commended, you are still at the mercy of God’s grace.

What if we acknowledged that we don’t deserve anything we ask for, remembering that every good and perfect gift comes from Him and in His timing?

I think these kinds of attitudes might help us wait in a way that allows us to honor God and be radiant as we wait. However, these aren’t the only attitudes that would allow us to do that. What have you done in seasons of waiting in your life? How have you been able to wait in a way that honors God? Would you comment below? I’m sure we could all benefit from your experience and insight.

Waiting might still be hard for me (and perhaps you, too), but remembering that God has purpose in those times of waiting, and knowing that there are ways we can wait that still allow us to be radiant, makes it just a little bit easier.

So, let us go be radiant as we wait!