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I tend to write and speak from my own life lessons, praying they speak into someone else’s life as well. So here is where I am today…
We live in a “want it now”
society. We are an impatient generation. We search the internet for instant
answers instead of searching for them the old fashioned way. We have
information, email, Facebook, music, Bibles, dictionaries and a host of other
apps at our fingertips with smart phones. We can purchase things from the
internet without leaving home and have it shipped overnight. We can use credit
cards as payment so we don’t have to wait until we’ve saved enough money. We
can check in before we get to the airport so we don’t have to wait in line. We
microwave our food and drive through fast food establishments. We make
restaurant reservations so our table is waiting when we get there. We live in a
want it now society.
But God…
God does not operate
on our 21st century, fast-paced time table. We have forgotten what
it’s like to wait or save up for things, and the sweet satisfaction of finally receiving what our heart desired.
Though we may be able to rush through
life, one thing has not changed from the early centuries until now…we cannot rush God. He works on His
timetable, not ours. So we find ourselves in the waiting rooms of life on a
regular basis. Life is a series of peaks and valleys. So if we are not in a
waiting room right now, we’ll likely be in one soon.
Pause for a moment and consider whether you are in a waiting room right now. Think of at least one thing you are waiting on God for.
These are a few of the things my friends and I shared:
Waiting for increase.
Waiting for financial peace.Waiting for a job.
Waiting for the right guy.
Waiting for school to be over and summer to come.
Waiting for God to provide college funds.
Waiting for an opportunity to move.
Waiting for a friend to move back.
Waiting for a daughter to surrender to the Lord.
Waiting for someone to accept Christ.
As a woman, how do you respond to waiting, especially when the pending news could be bad, or it’s something hard or seems impossible? Consider a few options and determine what your usual mode of operation might be...
Negative responses:
· fear (if/how God will answer)
· worry (even though God’s Word says 9 times in 8 verses in Matt. 6 not to worry)
· anxiety
· depression
· impatience
Positive responses:
·
hope
·
anticipation· expectancy
· faith
· believing God
I want to share a verse that has
really affirms what God has doing in my heart in recent months of waiting. He has
been teaching me how to wait with hope
and peace and expectancy.
God’s Word says in Isaiah
40:31, “Those who wait on the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings
like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be
faint.”
Note that God does not say, “Those
who try to work it out themselves…” or “Those who run ahead and do it in their
own strength…” or “ Those craft their own plan and ask Me to bless it…” will renew their strength. No, He
says, “Those who wait on [Him]…”
We tend to think of waiting
as a passive term. One that means we are to be inactive in the process. As I
learned from writer Holly Gerth, “The ‘wait’ here is full of activity – soaring, running, walking.”
Sometimes, God requires us to
be still in the waiting. But many times He leaves us in a position to continue
on with the work He has given us to do, fulfilling His plan for our lives. He
often wants and expects us to press on. By doing so, I have found that my mind
is not so consumed with life’s challenges and it actually renews my strength as
I work, wait, hope and trust in the Lord.
As Holly elaborated, it’s
like being in a fancy restaurant and being doted over by an attentive waiter.
His job is to fill his customer’s every desire. He hovers close by and watches
and waits for moments he can be of service.
Being renewed is a lot like
that. It comes when we wait expectantly while serving the Lord and continue
to meet the needs of those around us, regardless of our own circumstances. This
brings joy to the "One Who Loves Us". In other words, our attitude in the waiting
makes all the difference!
This new perspective has been
teaching me to balance praying with
expectancy, with not setting my own agenda for how God should answer. God’s
Word says in Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of
a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Matthew Henry’s commentary describes what we
do this way: we “design an end, and project ways and means leading to that end,
which we [just cannot] do…We are
depending creature[s]…subject to the direction and dominion of [our] Maker.”
However, “If men devise their way, so as to make God’s glory their end and His
will their rule, they may expect that He will direct their steps by His Spirit
and grace, so that they shall not miss their way…But let men devise their
worldly affairs ever so politely, and with ever so great a probability of
success, yet God has the ordering of the event, and sometimes directs their
steps to that which they least intended.”
The intent of this verse is to teach us to wait with our eyes on God,
not only in the waiting rooms and twists and turns of life, but in every step
we take.
My life verse, Proverbs 3:5-6
says, “Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and
He will direct your paths.” I think He gave me that verse early on knowing
I would be in lots of waiting rooms in my lifetime. So I am learning to pray expectantly,
but to temper my words by adding, Lord,
direct my steps. Not my will but Yours be done.
