You know what isn’t fun? Waiting. I don’t think I’m alone on this though. I don’t know of anyone who enjoys waiting. No one on this earth says, “I cannot wait to wait on something!”
We live in a “right now” culture and waiting is frowned upon in every aspect of life. All you have to do is look at the world around you to figure that out. We want our food faster, our computers faster, our phones faster and pretty much anything else in life that we might have to wait on.
I’ll be the first to admit, I sometimes feel like I’m losing my sanity simply because my iPhone refuses to load something quick enough.
Sure, that’s a little much, but I don’t think it’s uncommon to feel that way. It’s like we’re hard wired to expect things to happen how and when we think they should. The hard thing is that things rarely do happen the way we think they should.
When we excessively worry while we’re waiting it reveals we have a lack of trust and faith. (With a baby on the way and a house under construction – I’m currently being shown just how much I need to grow in this area)
To choose to embrace patience in the midst of waiting means to choose to live by faith. When we choose patience we realize that not everything in life requires our manipulation and control.
Embracing patience isn’t easy; it’s a fight. Everything in you will scream for you to panic and to lose understanding. Patience begins by relying on the truth found in Proverbs 3:5
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;”
Proverbs 3:5
It may not make sense to you in the moment, but trusting the Lord with your future and choosing patience creates a completely different way to wait.
Waiting isn’t some kind of punishment from God; it’s usually a part of His plan.
- David waited 20 years before becoming king of Israel.
- Abraham waited 25 years for his son Isaac to be born.
- Jesus waited 30 years before beginning His ministry.
The quickest way to burnout in life is getting ahead of God.
We are all guilty of doing it. We develop plans and schedules and expect our life to fall perfectly into place based on a fictional image in our mind, then we get angry at God for things not going according to our plan.
I’m afraid that many times when we look at our life and see mistakes, we are actually just viewing our life with a faulty perspective. The truth is, just because it wasn’t in our plan, doesn’t mean it wasn’t in His plan. And just because it isn’t happening now, doesn’t mean that it will never happen.
If we focus on the here-and-now progress too closely, then we will lose perspective completely. We see where we are now; God sees where we will be.
Instead of getting frustrated about our journey and trying to force things into place with selfish ambition, God gives us a much better option. We can simply wait on Him.
Those who do wait on the Lord are given an incredible promise that can be found in Isaiah 40:31 —
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
I know how hard it is to wait on the Lord. I’ve waited and I’ve failed to wait. I’ve stayed close to the heart of God with a heart full of patience and I’ve also gone in my own direction with a mind full of selfish determination.
Regardless of what you’ve done, where you’ve been, or the plans you have made… God has been pursuing you the entire time
Patience isn’t fun, or exciting, or thrilling, or sexy… but patience makes ‘broken’ plans beautiful.