I prayed and I prayed and still nothing happened. I was hoping that God would have moved on my situation by now. Does this sound familiar at all? How many times in the scripture do we hear the word wait repeated? This is not something agreeable to the human spirit and yet it is a requirement of a divine God, to have courage, to have patience, to exert hope and to ultimately wait on him. Why does God continually ask us to wait on Him? After all he is God, he can command anything to manifest in an instant.
“It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” Lamentations 3:26. “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me”. Micah 7:7 “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, And he shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say on the Lord”! Psalm 27:14.
I remember being told as a child that good things come to those that wait. I also remember telling my children to just be patient and wait. Wait your turn in line, wait until you can save for that, wait until you’re called to the table, wait until you’re old enough..wait, wait, wait, wait. Why is it that our whole lives seem to be about waiting? Everyone hates to wait.
The kind of waiting I described above is different than God-like waiting. While it may be polite for young children to wait as we get older the principle can become risky. We all know that as adults in the world sometimes when we wait we miss out; we lose the advantage or the moment. If we wait too long for something in the natural we can be passed by and forgotten. Jobs can be lost, relationships can be broken and opportunities can be squandered all at the expense of us waiting for too long.
Fortunately, all of this is the complete opposite In God. Because in divine order waiting breeds patience and patience births faith. We know that without faith, we cannot please God and so to please him we must learn to wait on him. He is not calling us to wait as in the world. Not knowing what may be left for us after we wait. But to wait in Him. And know that whatever you have asked for when first you prayed was already yes and amen. So unlike the world we are not waiting on an answer but rather the fullness of time.
Man is often impetuous, erratic and emotional. We view things based on the exterior and the carnal. But God looks at things from the eternal. That is why it is so important to understand his role as our Savior and our Lord. God is a God of order and process. As we wait on him we find that he is ever so gently leading us and guiding us in his way. As his process develops, his will for us becomes more eminent. We need to constantly check our plans against the will of his spirit and not resist his decisions and his determinations at particular stages of our life.
At times it may feel as if our prayers are not being heard. This is far from the truth. And this is not how he wants us to feel. He wants us to trust him even when we can't trace him. Even in the midst of little evidence or progress we can rest assured that he heard us the very first time we uttered a word to him. He asks us to wait but to wait in faith that is the key. In essence, he does not say to wait without knowing, or to wait with an unexpected outcome. But to wait with the understanding that our prayers have not only been heard but they have been answered.
Wait, because sometimes we’re just moving too fast and out of such habit that we don’t hear the stillness of his last direction. He will never allow us to be too far ahead or too far behind his plans and his purposes for us. He knows the way that we take. Life has a way of wearing us down and confusing us. We're always measuring our selves against what someone else has accomplished or achieved. When we wait with patient expectation and with faith the bible says that we renew our strength. The bible also says that we learn by the things that we suffer. So we need to stop asking God why and begin to say what, what are you trying to show me in this. I have learned that his thoughts are not my thoughts and his ways are not my ways. When we say yes to him that includes his will and his way of doing things.
So take a deep breath you’re not going to miss this boat. He knows exactly what he is doing and just when he wants you to arrive at your next stop. Always remember he will not disappoint like others in our past. He is not a man that he should lie. Nor the son of man that he should repent. He will do what he promised in his word. Jesus tells us continually to be strong and of good courage, be not weary, wait and faint not. The vision will come to pass..though it may tarry it will surely come..just wait I say on the Lord.
In God’s kingdom the last are always first, so relax, it just seems like its taking too long. In actuality you’re right where he wants you to be. Just wait and see………………..
