From November 2010:
– Psalm 27:14
When we pray, sometimes God says yes. Other times He tells us no. But then there are the times He asks us to wait. I think the command to wait is the hardest to accept. When we know it’s a yes or a no, at least we know which direction to move in. But when God asks us to wait, it’s hard because we don’t know what to do. All we can do is wait… and waiting takes patience. It’s easy to want to just rush ahead and do what we think is best. But He’s asked us to wait for His timing and to trust that He knows what is best.. That is not so easy. Maybe it would be easier if He told us how it was all going to work out in the end. Wouldn’t it be nice if God said, “I want you to wait for My timing, but in the end, here’s exactly when and how it’s going to happen…”?
But no. That’s not the way God works. He doesn’t have to tell us His plans. It’s part of trusting Him. It would be nice to know, but instead He asks for trust and obedience. And so we wait. Not knowing how it will turn out. And not knowing how long we’ll have to wait for an answer. The answer may come within days. But for some prayers, we may have to wait for years.
So why is waiting so hard? If God promises He’s taking care of it, why are we so worried about getting an answer now? As I said, it takes patience. And patience doesn’t come naturally to most of us. And while we’re waiting, it may seem like we’ve been waiting for forever. We grow restless. We lie awake at night wondering what will happen in the end. We try to solve the problem, replaying endless “what if” games in our heads.
But that’s not what God asks us to do. He asks us to trust. And obey. And wait.
And sometimes when we’re waiting, we grow tired. It may be emotionally or it may be physically, depending on the situation. But we get tired. We want the time of waiting to be over. We want God to move things along so we know what to do next. Sometimes, it may feel like God has forgotten our situation. Or that He’s just not doing anything about it.
But in Psalm 38, we learn that David struggled with waiting too. He writes, “O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes--it also has gone from me.” Yes, David was struggling. But in his struggles, he remembers that nothing is hidden from God – God won’t and can’t forget about us. He knows exactly how we’re struggling – how the situation weighs on our hearts. And so David perseveres in waiting, as he writes in verse 15: “But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.”
We do not wait on a God who will make us wait alone. He is there beside us, giving us the strength to go on each day… waiting. And one day, He will bring an answer. Until then, we wait patiently. It’s not easy, but it is worth it. What God has planned for our lives is far better than anything we can try to make happen.
So wait for the Lord. Be strong, let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord.
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