Wait for it…
"I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope." Psalm 130:5
Through various seasons of waiting, I’ve realized a couple things. For starters, waiting can be relentlessly, tiringly, and obviously difficult. For this reason, I thought it may be worthwhile to expound on some of the points I sense the Holy Spirit highlighting. Truth be told, we’ve all had to wait for something. So, let’s make the best of it together!
Check out these points:
Don’t be afraid, just remember the last time.
I see that as we wait for God’s promises, or even things that we desire, the tendency to fear can start to take over. Especially in periods of long lags. What I’m personally tempted to do is become anxious and desperate, running every single possibility through my mind which rarely ever leads me to the answer. It only makes the sinking feeling in my stomach deeper and deeper, and somehow, I become even more confused.
Recently, I remembered a time where I was forced to wait, and everything worked out. When I revisited the thought of how I was desperate to find a place to live (in less than 30 days because of a flood in my old apartment), I recall how I sat outside of what would be my future apartment home, unbeknownst to me. To add to the drama of it all, I had to work the next day, was displaced in a hotel for 12 days, and I felt super melodramatic, rainclouds and all. I prayed to God –
“Father, I don’t want to look for forever, and I’m truly tired from this whole situation. Will you please just show me the place, and can you do it soon?”
Little did I know that I would be moving into that exact place a few weeks after I parked my car.
2. When we wait, it’s for God’s best.
So, my spot, right?
When I went on the first tour around the complex, I was immediately impressed by the high ceilings, the wall décor, and the hard-wooden floors. In response, I thought to myself, “if this is the hallway and the front office, what in the world does the actual unit look like?” When we finally got to the front door, the associate opened it and my eyes fell on the setting sun from the tri-window frame, the creases of shadows dancing behind thick, white blinds. I walked in and closed the door – beautiful. To my pleasure, I walked around and everything there was exactly how I imagined when I used to daydream. It was truly unbelievable to me, especially given my situation.
And then I asked the pressing question – how much will it be? (This is where I was expecting to cut the tour short, walk outside, and refill everyone’s drink at my pity party).
As if he knew my next question, the associate smirked and delivered a miracle-sized response - it would be less than the old place, and it fell within my price range.
Lesson being, when God asks us to wait and orchestrates our lives so that waiting is our only option, it’s for the best - literally.
It is for far more than what we can ask or think… and contrary to popular opinion, it has nothing to do with our personalities, our relative goodness, or even what we plan to receive. It has everything to do with His character which He desires to produce in us through faith and obedience.
3. Faith and obedience to God is modeling who He is.
When we await as recipients from God, sometimes He will stretch us passed our own comfort and our preconceived ability to wait. And I’ve found that this is not a bad thing, but a benefit to us because of the spiritual fruit it produces. Follow me for a second!
There’s a verse in the Bible that discusses how by faith, we change to become like Christ (Galatians 2:20), modeling His character everywhere we go. Well, when we are waiting, I believe God desires for us to persevere toward good, better, and best character, so that we can have hope (Romans 5:4). The ultimate hope of salvation. The crazy part is that this often begins in the form of a tribulation (Romans 5:3), but the spiritual fruit of going through a tribulation, or waiting through, is perseverance! As we persevere, we produce the ability to have hope! And as a bonus, this kind of hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5). This hope is the same hope that returns us back to God through our salvation.
We become godlier in character on our journey to meet Him again through His heavenly promise as we wait for our earthly ones.
This is the opportunity that patience presents in our lives. So perhaps we should glorify the waiting periods if we know that this is the result?
4. Inconvenience, or opportunity?
I wanted to conclude by acknowledging how inconvenient and uncomfortable waiting can be, no matter what it is that we desire or need. But please know and understand, God knows everything we need and even what we desire – He made us (Luke 12:7)! I realize God is not entirely concerned about us getting our way versus His concern for us to learn and to grow.
We must understand that as a God of order, He also has a priority list. And sometimes our priority list is forced to change just so that it reflects His a little more closely.
With that being said, our morality, integrity and character are all strengthened when we place faith in God. In fact, that’s the only way to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). So why not flip the script and utilize our periods of waiting as an opportunity rather than a punishment? Think about the age-old mantra, the glass is half-empty, or the glass is half-full. The same principle is applied to inconvenience versus opportunity. Could the time be allotted elsewhere instead of wallowing in self-pity on the couch, scrolling hours away on Instagram, or fighting through tears while worrying or comparing?
All I’m saying is that as we have the power to change our minds to say that the glass is half-full, we can also expend our energy in a way that is encouraging not only to ourselves, but to somebody else. Maybe we can meet someone else where they’re at by making ourselves accessible and useful. Maybe we can spend time solving another issue or spend even more time with Him, just to get to know Him better. The whole point is – it may be worthy to try to do something that produces more hope, even when that’s the last thing we’d like to do. I’ve found that when we do this, we are closer to finding out the reason why we may be waiting in the first place…