It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? I mean, who likes to wait? I find myself getting anxious and discontent when I am sitting in the waiting room at my doctor’s office and it is only five minutes past my initial appointment time.
We are a people who do not like to wait. Heck, we even have apps that allow us to pre-order our vanilla lattes from Starbucks just so we don’t have to wait in line when we pick it up. We live in a fast-paced society that thrives on instant anything!
So, when we hear the words “waiting well,” it would obviously sound foreign and even impossible for us to accomplish in our lives.
Whether we’re waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store or the bathroom line at halftime during the NBA finals, we will eventually face the inevitable.
Long Seasons of Waiting Are Hard
Maybe you’re waiting for that next job opportunity and wondering how you are going to provide for your family…
Or waiting for the college acceptance letter to your dream school…
These waiting seasons bring a lot of pain and heartache. Sometimes even a lot of tears. We question God and wonder if He will ever fulfill His promises in our lives. It is our human nature to feel frustrated and anxious because we lack control over our circumstances. You see, when we have to wait, it feels like someone else is disrupting our progress. We cry out like David did in Psalm 13:1-2, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?”
How many times have you cried out, “How long, O Lord? How long am I going to have to wait?”
I would imagine you even feel forgotten at times. I certainly have. You feel angry and rejected by God. You feel confused because you haven’t gotten any answers. But, beloved friend, I am here to encourage you to take heart because there is always hope with our Almighty God. He is doing a work inside of us that cannot be accomplished any other way except to endure the waiting season.
Charles Stanley said, “Waiting on God is one of the most difficult lessons you and I will ever learn.” I have to agree with him, but it is in this season where God wants to cultivate a character of praise, patience, and peace in us. It is when we embrace the growing pains and let God do His work in us that we begin to find ourselves waiting on God well.
Encouragement During Your Waiting
Here are 5 things to remember when you’re trying to wait well.
1. God is always on time.
While it seems that God is delaying according to our timelines, we need to understand that God is never late. We try to restrict an infinite God to our time table, but He is outside the realm of time. So, God may require us to wait because what we are praying for may not be ready.
You see, God is orchestrating so much in the unseen. He is moving people around and changing circumstances to get things into place to answer your request at the right moment. We need to trust and patiently wait for His perfect timing. Kent Crockett said, “The Lord is more concerned about you receiving His best than about how quickly you can get it.” Let’s rejoice and praise God for preparing His best for us.
2. Wait actively.
Waiting is downright hard. But it is in these seasons where we can choose to grow or retreat. God is trying to grow you exactly where you are. God is establishing a deep root system in us during this time. Don’t passively wait through this season, but choose to grow through it by accepting the assignment God has for you today. Ask Him in prayer to reveal the purpose of this waiting season and what He wants you to focus on. God wants to see us be faithful with the portion He has already given us.
But, beloved friend, I am here to encourage you to take heart because there is always hope with our Almighty God.
3. God withholds no good thing.
Psalm 84:11 says, “The Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” I came across this Bible verse in a season of waiting. It took an incredible amount of strength to believe it, but the more I claimed it over my life the more I began to see my heart change.
I have learned that if God is withholding something, perhaps it is not a good thing (at least for right now). Our God longs to give us good gifts; that is in His nature. So, while it may seem that God is withholding something from us, we need to lean not on our own understanding but trust in His wisdom and timing. We must surrender our limited knowledge and trust in our infinite God.
4. God wants an intimate relationship with His children.
In my season of waiting, I have learned that God will allure us into the wilderness just to get our attention. He longs and desires to have an intimate and loving relationship with His children. Sometimes He will delay answering our prayers in order to keep our eyes and heart focused on Him. God wants us to seek Him, so He allows a yearning to surface in our lives. He delays so that our search for Him would grow more deeply.
Eventually, God becomes more important to us than the original need. It is God that satisfies the longing of our hearts in a way we could have never imagined. We tend to get too focused on the gifts rather than the Giver of the gifts, our Lord God. He is teaching us to rely solely upon Him. So, keep seeking Him in this season of waiting.
5. God values persistence and perseverance.
You may be tired of waiting, but I am encouraging you to take heart and to not lose hope. God delights in us when we keep on seeking, keep on asking, and keep on knocking. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
The key is to not give up! God isn’t just randomly making us wait. There is purpose in these seasons. Remember, He is working out the answers we seek in the unseen. Our persistence reveals the depth of our desires and burdens. So, be that persistent knocker, seeking God and taking your requests to Him. We honor the Lord by persistently praying. He desires to have us trust Him enough to continue praying even if we have prayed about something countless times.
Kelsey was a basketball player turned pageant queen but is now a professional packer and mover living out of her pink suitcase. She loves making friends anywhere and breaking shy people out of their shells. If you can’t find her, chances are she's lost in one of her multitude of books.
