Waiting is hard! Sometimes we wait with excitement for a vacation or other fun event; at other times we wait with heartache and pain, wondering when God will answer our prayers. Even when we see God answer some of our prayers, we can still wonder why other prayers are not answered.
Over the years I have seen God work miraculously in my life and the lives of others. I have seen immediate answer to my prayers. I have also had prayers that were answered after years of praying, and then there are the prayers that I am still praying; decades after I first began. Still waiting for God's answer. So how do we wait well? Wait faithfully?
I've had four reminders saved in my phone for awhile. Reminders of how to wait faithfully. I'm currently reading through Warren Weirsbe's book BE Confident; which is a study in Hebrews. Yesterday, in my reading there were four other great reminders of how to be faithful while waiting. My prayer is that these reminders will encourage you to keep praying, obeying and faithfully following God while waiting.
Remember...
1) God's perspective is not ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9) - I want to share a quick illustration that I've used with my kids. It's not perfect but has helped them (and me) think of this more concretely. Picture someone holding a toothpick in their hands. Now imagine that is God and the toothpick represents all of time. Our lives are a small dot on that toothpick. We cannot move our dot, we cannot see the rest of the toothpick, we can't even see all of the dot at once; but God can! He is outside of time (i.e. not on the toothpick) and can see the entire thing. He can also touch that toothpick at any point. Our view is so limited; God's is unlimited!
2) Our One Task: Faithfully Follow Christ. (Psalm 62:5-6) - We can get so caught up in trying to figure things out, change things, control things. But our one task, is to be faithful in our relationship with Jesus. Two things that have really helped me narrow my focus this year are to remember "I don't know, but God does and I choose to trust Him." and also to pray "God, what do you want me to do today?" I can't control when things will happen but I can choose to trust God and to obey His plans for me today.
3) Look for God in the Waiting (Psalm 27:13-14) - We are so blessed! Yet, focusing on what we don't have yet or what God hasn't done yet; that distraction and attitude can steal our joy. God is faithful! Look at all He has done and is doing. Look for the ways He is showing up in your life. From the beauty of creation, the gift of a new day, prayers that He has answered or even ways that He's challenging you.
4) Consider Waiting as Preparation (Psalm 25:4-5) - Going back to number 1; God's perspective is not ours. The way in which He answers our prayers may look very different from what we expect. See this time of waiting as God preparing you to be ready for His way of answering your prayers. Often I've found that the answer is a change in my heart, not necessarily the change in circumstance that I was asking for. Just this year God has given me a new perspective about something I have been praying about for many, many years. I don't know when or even if He will answer this prayer but I'm thankful for the change in perspective He has given me.
2) He Obeyed when... He did not know how God's will would be accomplished.
3) He Obeyed when... He did not know when God would fulfill his promises.
4) He Obeyed when... He did not know why God was so working.
Keep praying! God is our merciful and faithful High Priest. He is our Loving Father. He is all-mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing. As Peter says in John 6:68 "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life," Where else would we go? There is still so much for us to learn and we are blessed to have full access to the One who has all knowledge and wisdom. He wants us to come to Him; even if it is over and over again. We need only to look at Jesus praying in the garden. He went back three times praying the same words. Bring it all to God!
One final quote I want to share from Warren Weirsbe:
"True faith is able to wait for the fulfillment of God's purposes in God's time."
Excellent post, Elisha! Thank you so much for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoy Wiersbe's books and own many in the "Be" series. I don't think I have that one, however.