“I like waiting.” Said nobody. It’s the same number of people that have said “Cool Prius.” It’s just not how we are wired.
Anne Fisher, in Fortune Magazine, spoke about our reluctance to wait. The symptoms of our pace sound like this: “Eating lunch at your desk while also checking emails and talking on the phone is one symptom. So is doing something else while on conference calls, or even while brushing your teeth. We all find ourselves multitasking now and then, but what about habitually interrupting someone who is talking, or always getting frustrated in a checkout line or in traffic, even when it’s moving along smoothly?
When microwaving something for thirty seconds, do you feel the urge to find something else to do while you wait?
If one or more of these sounds all too familiar, you probably have a bad case of a malady that psychologists have dubbed ‘hurry sickness.’ A sure sign is repeatedly pushing the door-close button on an elevator.”
Tom Petty was right when he said, “The waiting is the hardest part.”
(If you haven’t heard that song or you just want to see some great mullet’s give the song a listen)
God has a different plan for us than this frantic hurry we find ourselves in so often. He says over and over and over that we need to be willing to wait.
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. –Psalm 27:14
The eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. –Psalm 33:18
Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land. –Psalm 37:34
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. –Psalm 130:5,6
Those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. –Isaiah 40:31
I have a feeling that there are some people who’s issue with goes beyond irritation with long check out lines and waiting for your microwave popcorn.
You’re tired of waiting, and there is one person you hold specifically responsible. It’s your Heavenly Father.
You want answers. You want to know what to do in your marriage. You’re frustrated with how difficult parenting is and you want to know if it’s worth it. Job issues are making you wonder if your career is worth waiting through the difficult issues you’re facing.
We want instant results in areas of our life that may take decades.
We want to see results in our kids’ lives. I have four children adult children. I’m still waiting to see progress in areas I’ve prayed for my whole life.
We want to know that our job has purpose. We won’t really know if we’ve made the impact we want in our business and the people we work with for literally decades.
Our lives are spent waiting.
That’s why God tells us over and over to wait patiently. I found the following quote from F.B. Meyer, a Baptist pastor and evangelist, which spoke to me:
“God has his set times. It is not for us to know them. Indeed, we cannot know them. We must wait for them. If God had told Abraham that he must wait all those years until he pressed the promised child to his bosom, his heart would have failed him. So in gracious love, the length of the weary years was hidden. And only as they were nearly spent and there were only a few more months to wait, God told him, according to the time of life, “Sarah shall have a son.”
If God told you on the front end how long you would wait to find the fulfillment of your desire or pleasure or dream, you’d lose heart.
You’d grow weary in well doing. So would I. But he doesn’t. He just says, “Wait. I keep my word. I’m in no hurry. In the process of time I’m developing you to be ready for the promise.”
People gave us a lot of advice when we were in our four-year battle to adopt our daughter. A close friend made this profound statement: “I know you have to do a lot of waiting, and it’s hard, but think about this. Who do you want to be when your daughter gets here? Do you want to be anxious, worried, and stressed, or do you want to be calm, relaxed, and full of faith?”
Who do you want to be when the waiting is over?
Who do you want to be when you get that job or find the love of your life? Do you want to have a deeper trust that God is going to come through? Do you want to not jump to disastrous conclusions and bring calm to your unresolved situation? Those are the qualities I’m looking for. In the waiting I want to learn to be grateful on this day and develop a half-full attitude.
My guess is that, at this moment, you are waiting for something. There’s an issue that is bothering you as you drive home, pursues you when you have a quiet moment, and wakes you up in the middle of the night. Where do you want to be when your situation is resolved?
God challenges us to wait on him. He wants us to trust that he has our best interests at heart. God knows that if we pray to him, run to him with our problems, and stay the course that we will grow and mature. He promises peace and purpose. Our Heavenly Dad knows that life is lived in the unresolved.
It has taken me a lifetime to learn that waiting in the unresolved is not my dad’s way of punishing me but of growing and developing me into the person I always wanted to be.
If you want to learn more about how your Heavenly Dad delights in you and wants to grow you into the person you always wanted to be pick up a copy of my book, Your Picture Is On His Refrigerator.
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