Waiting is Work

I don't consider myself a patient person.

Whether it is weight loss or the loading of a web page, I want to see results now.

My two older daughters know that I don't like to be kept waiting, that delayed obedience is disobedience and that they had better at least answer me when I call.

Yet, sometimes waiting is the very work that God calls us to.

When He calls us to wait, we can take solace that we are in very good company with many heroes of the Bible. Moses waited for a son. Joseph waited to see the visions God had given him come to pass. All of creation, from Adam and Eve on waited for God to fulfill His promise in the garden by sending His people the Messiah.

In the hustle and bustle of my life and the crowded cluster of thoughts that consume my mind, I am convinced that I simply don't have time to wait. Yet, God knows better. He always does.

In the waiting, He gets my attention. In the waiting, I find the time to ask more questions, dig a little deeper, and press in closer. In the waiting, I am more aware of what He may be doing because I am anticipating that He is going to do something.

YES! It is incredibly easy to get weary. YES! It can be overwhelming and tiresome. YES! It can be downright hard.

But the Bible tells us that the waiting is good and that God is good to those who wait for Him.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for him, 

to the soul who seeks him.

It is good that one should wait quietly 

for the salvation of the Lord."

Lamentations 3:25-26

What should we do in the waiting? 

Notice that the passage says that the Lord is good to the soul that seeks Him. To experience His goodness in the waiting, we must seek Him. 

How should we wait?

It says we should wait quietly. Ouch. I don't want to wait quietly. I want to wait loudly - complaining and drawing attention to my plight and struggle. I want everyone to know . . .  

You may be able to tell by reading my posts this week that I  am in a very definite period of waiting. I am asking God questions, tough questions, and seeking His will. I loved Dana's post last week titled "Struggle Well." That is definitely something I am trying to do . . . 

Perhaps in a later post someday I will be more free to share details of what I am waiting on God for, but for now, I hope to encourage you who are also waiting. 

First, you are not alone. It can be hard to relate to the Bible guys and gals when the Scripture condenses  years of waiting in to a short phrase or seems to skip a couple of decades between chapters. Yet, the waiting was real then and it is very real now, for those of us that find ourselves waiting. 

Second, as you wait, claim and cling onto to passages of Scripture that God has told you to be true. For me, I am hanging onto the passage above and four verses that precede them. I'll close with them. They've been huge for me and I have shared them with a couple of others too. I just never imagined that I would find such encouragement in the book of Lamentations?! 

"But this I call to mind,

and therefore have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

the are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,

therefore I will hope in him."

Lamentations 3:21-24