Three Keys for Waiting

 

"If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord’s people have always been a waiting people"- Charles Spurgeon

I think there are few things in life as frustrating as waiting. Whether it be something small such as waiting for food at a restaurant to major things like waiting for test results from your doctor's office. Waiting is hard. Yet the life of the Christian will undoubtedly include seasons of waiting (a fact that most Old and New Testament saints can attest to). Waiting is not a class we pass and  move on from. On the contrary, waiting is similar to your math courses in high school...there are several, each one a step above the last. When we complete a season of waiting, be assured that another one lies in the future. Simply put, we cannot circumvent waiting. Therefore it is necessary for us to learn how to properly deal with these seasons and thereby avoid those unnecessary pitfalls that we are prone to encounter otherwise. Today I want to share with you three simply yet profound keys that I pray will help you wait on whatever promises God has given you. 

Absence of Value...Time is present. 

Let's face it: waiting is hard. But it's even harder when we feel like our waiting is in vain. Think about your time at the airport as you wait to board your flight. You could sit there people watching for the next hour or so or you could take the same time and make progress on that project that's due soon. I guarantee you that finishing that project will make the waiting seem shorter and much more valuable than had you done nothing. It's the same with the Lord. Whenever we spend time with Him, our time is always well spent. I've written about this previously but let me say it again: God does not waste our time, He uses our period of waiting to work on our soul! Because most of the work God does during our waiting is inherently internal, if we are not observant we can easily become discouraged because "nothing is happening" (or so we think). This is one of the reasons why it becomes critical that we spend time with the Lord during a period of waiting. Only in the presence of Jesus will we see our troubles in proper perspective. The psalmist wrote about his experiences on this in the 73rd Psalm. As he looked at the prosperity and ease of life of the unsaved, he found it hard to understand why they had good lives while many times God's people suffered. He puts it this way in verse 2,"But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold..." Yet just a few verses down in verses 16 and 17, he writes again "When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny." There are certain things that will only be understood and accepted when we get alone with God. We can come to a place in prayer where the presence of Jesus becomes so real that nothing else really matters...where even the longest waiting will seem insignificant so long as we please Him. This is the place where we must fight to remain and where God earnestly desires to meet us. 

Work, work, work. 

Have you ever heard the expression "a watched pot never boils?" Well whenever I am waiting on God to fulfill a promise, it can feel a lot like that...like nothing is happening. I feel like I am wasting my time waiting. Sometimes I'll console myself with Scriptures that speak on the virtues of waiting, only to later find myself once again frustrated by the lack of results. Yet I've come to realize one very important thing about waiting on God. Waiting is NOT the same as inactivity nor passivity, waiting on God means I am preparing and working on what God has put on my plate until He gives me different instructions. Most times the root of my frustration isn't waiting, rather it's not doing anything while I wait! Whenever we fail to work, frustration will quickly take over. Why? Because our God designed us to work. The life of Jesus shows us an example of this. When questioned by the Jewish leaders for performing miracles on the sabbath day, Jesus replied the following, "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working" (Jn 5:17). Though the sabbath was the day of rest, Jesus knew that His time here on Earth was limited and His mission great, therefore He worked. And if the Son of God is not exempt from work, neither are we. Laziness and passivity are dangerous to our season of waiting. Remember when Moses went to meet with God in the mountain for 40 days? All Israel watched him climb the mountain, but none of them knew how long he'd be gone for. So when the days passed and Moses had not returned, the people (who were merely "hanging" out in the camp) soon persuaded Aaron to build a golden calf for them and proclaim that their god (Ex 32). Israel rejected the blessings of God simply because they refused to wait any longer and I personally I believe that in large part this was due to a lack of work on their part. The same can happen to us if we fail to work. Work is what God uses to keep us focused and moving towards our finish line. Keep in mind: Though God Himself will be the One that brings about the promise in your life, you will have a role in it. God wants to work with you not for you.

 

Keep your eyes on the prize. 

"David asked the men standing near him, What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?.” (1 Sam 17:26) Before he ever set foot on the battlefield, David made sure he knew what the reward was. Instead of focusing on the enormous challenge awaiting him, David chose to focus on the coming reward. Waiting on God's timing is never in vain (regardless of how it may feel at times). God rewards those who patiently wait on Him (Heb 11:6). There will be times when you will get tired of waiting. You see everyone else moving on with their lives and getting blessed yet you feel stuck! Despair not reader. Jesus will surely come to you as well. But in the meantime, keep hope alive. Think about the reward. Meditate on God's promises for your life. List all the prayers He's already answered. Count His blessings...one by one. For though He may be running late, He will definitely come. 

Closing Thoughts.

Reader, you are not alone in your waiting. As I type these very words I find myself in a long and wintry season of waiting. The hardest one yet! The things I've shared in these post, I've actually experienced. But I know whom I serve and to whom I belong. And I know that though the waiting be long, it will all be worth it in the end. My prayer is that these three keys will help you in your waiting and bring you closer to Him who loves and gave Himself for you!

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" (Ps 27:14)