But wait! There’s more…
Waiting. Usually not anyone’s favorite thing to do. As a young adult, I had very little patience and consequently was very frustrated if something didn’t happen quickly. Had a problem? I would spend hours and often needless energy brainstorming and trying to fix it. If a door closed, I immediately tried to open other ones. You get the idea…
Lacking patience hit a crisis point in my children’s early years. I had very clearly heard the Lord promise to resolve a personal situation. When it didn’t happen in a week, I immediately went into fix-it mode. I spent countless hours over the next several years researching & implementing all sorts of new ways to “fix” my situation but had little or no success. What DID happen is that all of that stress and worry took its toll on my physical health.
There came a point when I “hit the wall” and I couldn’t do it anymore. From that point forward, I started to let go and cast my burden on the Lord (Psalm 55:22). It hasn’t been an easy process. Sometimes it was painful. Other times it was two steps forward, one step back. But as the years have passed, I found myself no longer trying to fix circumstances or change outcomes because things were not progressing as quickly I would prefer. It’s not that I don’t have slip-ups, but they are happening less and less.
I am learning something that I have never understood – how to wait on the Lord. The Bible talks a lot about waiting on the Lord, but what does this mean? Why do we have to wait?
Learning to wait on the Lord IS part of His plan! The more we learn to wait, the more we learn to trust and surrender to Him, His plans for us, and in His timing. And more our faith is strengthened!
Does waiting mean to sit quietly until you hear from Him? Well, yes, that can be part of it. But there is more than that…
We need to read and meditate on the Lord and His word…
PSALM 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he [b]meditates day and night.
PSALM 145:5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.
We need to pray. It is easy to fall out of the habit of praying when you have been waiting a long time for an answer, but God wants us to be vigilant in prayer.
Colossians 4:3 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
We need to not worry, but instead have hope. Someone once defined hope as having “joyful expectation”. I love this definition. It’s a reminder that hope isn’t “hoping for the best but expecting & preparing for the worst.” It means truly trusting & looking forward to seeing how God is going to move in your situation.
We need to worship! Praise who He is instead of focusing on circumstances. We were made for worship and for me, there is no quicker way to realign my thinking than to enter into worshiping the Lord.
PSALM 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
We need to not forsake the assembly of the brethren. Go to church! Praise the Lord with your fellow brothers & sisters. Serve your church family.
HEBREWS 10:23-24 – And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
We need to remember! Remember who He is. Remember all that He has done for you and thank Him!
PSALM 105:5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
And finally, we need to be obedient. It’s not always the first thing you think of when you are waiting, but growing in your relationship with the Lord involves obeying God’s Word. As we draw closer to Him, it becomes so much easier to trust in His ways & not lean on our own understanding.
2 JOHN 1: 6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
I’m still waiting on the Lord for many things, but I am learning to wait with that “joyful expectation.” I can’t wait to see what He will do!
PSALM 27:13-14 – I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
