Waiting

We are all waiting for something.
Waiting for spring.
Waiting for a spouse.
Waiting for children.
Waiting for a better job or place to live.
Waiting for retirement.
Waiting for advice.
Waiting to make a decision.

And the thing I find difficult about waiting is that it can so hard!  Patience truly is a virtue, but it is one that I am usually in short supply of!  But one thing I am learning is that waiting is not a bad thing.  The waiting in and of itself is not destructive or to be despised.  It is our response to the waiting that is important.  So what do we do in the period of waiting?

The last few months since returning home from Africa have been incredibly difficult, and I regret to say that I have not waited well.  It has felt like a season of no direction from God and as though I am merely floating around with no idea of where to go.  I have been depressed and lonely.  This lesson of learning to wait well is not something I am preaching to you while I have my life in order; my life is not in order and I have sinned against God.  So this is a blog post written for me more than anyone else.

Waiting frustrated

The temptation for me is to be lazy, weary, or dismayed in the waiting.  It is so easy to wait and wait and wait, never see the desired result, and then just give up.  Or another response I often have when I don't receive an immediate answer to my questions is to become frustrated and take matters into my own hands.  Unfortunately, it is far too easy for me to believe that God has forgotten me.  So then, just like Israel did, I try to bring something about in my own strength.

I just listened to a sermon that described how we might be fairly confident that we know what the end result of our waiting will be, but we commit sin by trying to manipulate events to happen...even if it is ahead of God's timing.  This is seen in Numbers 20:1-13:

Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.

There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.  The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!  Why then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here?  Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place?  It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."  Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces.  Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them; and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water.  You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink."

So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock.  And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"  Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.  But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."  Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the LORD, and He proved Himself holy among them.

Sin has consequences

Much earlier, back when Israel had recently been liberated from slavery in Egypt, Moses struck a rock to provide water for the people.  In that situation, God had told Moses to hit the rock with his staff (Exodus 17:1-7).  However, in this instance, God told Moses to speak to the rock.  But like I do so often, Moses took matters into his own hands.

Perhaps he was tired of the wilderness wanderings.  Maybe the people's grumbling had gotten to him.  Whatever the reason, he had lost sight of God and His promises, and acted in his own wisdom.  Yet, even if we cannot see how God will fulfill His promises, this does not nullify what God has said and does not give us license to act according to our own wills and plans!  Unfortunately for Moses, the penalty for his sin was very severe.  He and his brother, Aaron, would both never enter the beautiful Promised Land (Numbers 20:12), the place where they had been leading Israel for all those years, ever since they left Egypt.

Consequence #1: Turmoil

Is there a penalty when we rush ahead of God?  When God has told us to wait, to be still, to cease striving, and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10), but we still reject what He has said?  Well I can think of an instantaneous consequence to disobeying God in this way: we continue striving.  In Psalm 46:10, the Hebrew word for cease is רָפָה (râphâh) meaning "to let go, to abandon, to relax, to refrain"; the phrase cease striving could otherwise be worded, "let go, relax", or "leave off your own attempts" (Strong's Definition/Gesenius' Lexicon).  When we fail to obey God by abandoning our striving/worrying, the consequence for our disobedience is that we will not have peace.  There will be turmoil in our minds and hearts until we surrender our wills and plans to God.  Even when we are surrendered to God, there may still be difficulties, but He has promised to be near us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5-6).

Consequence #2: Stagnating

There is another consequence to disobeying God, which is to miss what God wants us to learn from a difficult period of waiting.  God is sovereign over all, and nothing occurs that is a surprise to Him.  He has ordained circumstances in our lives, exactly what is needed, in order to shape us into the people He wants us to be.  The goal?  God's glory and our sanctification/growth.  Take a look at what one Biblical author, James, had to say about it:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ~ James 1:2-4

Another wise author of parts of the Bible named Paul has a great deal to mention about difficult circumstances being used by God for our good (Romans 5:3-5, Romans 8:28-32).  The amazing God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in the place of ungodly sinners like us (John 3:16, Romans 5:8) has chosen to use hardships (including long periods of waiting) for our good (Romans 8:28).  I know this to be true in the past...there have been many hard times in my life, but a response that pleases God has always led to becoming more like Jesus!

Too often, however, I have rather wanted to avoid the periods of waiting for God, and by trying to forge ahead and create a new path for myself, I have ended up exactly where I did not expect to be.  One of my greatest fears is being left behind and not noticing any growth in my life, whether emotional, spiritual, or physical (such as becoming healthier, stronger, etc).  The thought that my life will always be the same with no variety or growth sometimes has caused me to jump ahead of God's timing.  Then I find out that by jumping ahead, I actually have ceased to grow, and end up right where I started...stagnant (despite the "adventure" of living life apart from God).  Any time we do anything without God, it is truly not an adventure, but a nightmare.

Consequence #3: Rebellion

A third consequence I can think of that comes from not waiting relates back to Psalm 46:10.  Let's look at the verse again:

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

If we continue to strive and refuse to relax and trust God, we are in essence rejecting God.  We are saying, "God, I am not going to exalt You.  I am going to be the god of my own life!"

There really are two commands in that verse:

1. cease striving

2. know that I am God.

Is God really Lord over your life or is someone/something else?  I don't have all the answers to why God is making me wait for an answer right now, when He has given answers to other people.  But I'm not God.  God is GOD.  He is the Sovereign Ruler and He is our Creator.  He has the right to do with me what He pleases.

Rebellion may not seem like a big deal.  After all, is not God loving and accepting of everyone?  It is true that anyone can come to Jesus, desiring to follow Him, and He will accept that person, but when we come, there is an understanding that though we ourselves do not have to change in order to be loved and accepted by God, Jesus Himself will change us.  When we come to God, we are in essence saying, "I'm done living life my own way.  It hasn't worked out so far.  I am tired of pushing You aside and I want you to govern and direct my life.  I need a heart change and that can only come from You.  I believe what You have said and I want to follow You in every way."  Rebellion is the exact opposite of that.  It is a proud insistence that as humans, we know more than God, and it is an incredibly dangerous thing to go ahead against God.

When we rebel against God, we risk being chastised as Job was (Job 38:1-40:5, Job 40:6-42:6), but even when He disciplines His children, God is so patient and shows love (Hebrews 12:5-6, Hebrews 12:10-11)!

Waiting well

As a Christian, my desire is to honour God and bring Him glory with my whole life.  This is not just because doing so will bring me peace, but because God is the GOD above all and He deserves my heart, my life, my mind, my emotions, my possessions--all of me!  Honouring God may include receiving a quick answer to prayer and then moving forward with what He has arranged.  But it might mean waiting.

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” - Revelation 4:11

May this be our prayer!  Don't just wait; wait well.




Image obtained from https://quotefancy.com/quote/780602/C-S-Lewis-I-am-sure-that-God-keeps-no-one-waiting-unless-he-sees-that-it-is-good-for-him