How We Wait

Psalm 123:1-2  I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.  We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

How to Wait?

I actually typed this question into my google search engine.   The first website it listed said 3 ways to wait patiently.   At a deeper look in this website, I found three methods for waiting patiently:  help the time pass, learn to be patient, and acknowledge what makes you impatient.  The second website was a study done by a professor at University of California on lawyers who were waiting to the results of their bar exam.  Albeit, some of her research was very interesting, the results were not surprising.  We live in a generation that doesn’t like to wait.  If you don’t start moving as soon as your light turns green, someone honks.  The oven is too slow so the microwave has taken its place.  Instant pudding.  Instant potatoes.  Minute rice. Quick oats.  Carnation Instant Breakfast.  Someone introduced me to this ice cream machine that doesn’t need rock salt and ice.  Simply take the bowl out of the freezer and plug the machine in.  20 minutes or less and ice cream is ready.  I remember sitting on top of a crank ice cream machine while someone turned the handle so that in a very long time ice cream would be ready.  We live in an instant society.  We do not wait!

However, in Scripture we find references after references about waiting.  I went back to google and typed in Bible verses about waiting.  The first website listed says 29 Bible Verses About Waiting on God.  The second website listed says 20 Best Bible Verses about Patience.  I went to both websites and neither of them contained the same Scriptures about waiting.  If I were a Hebrew or Greek Scholar I might could give an exact number of the times the Bible talks about waiting.  However, I know my point to be accurate, Scriptures speak over and over again about waiting.  Not only does Scripture specifically speak on the subject of waiting, it also provides examples of others who find themselves in waiting seasons.

Ruth knows a little bit about waiting.  Ruth had just spent the night at the feet of Boaz only to discover there was another redeemer kinsman first in line.  So Ruth, simply must go and wait for Boaz to work matters out.  There’s no work to do on her part, only waiting.  This is when Angry Birds might come in handy.  Alas, there’s no Angry Birds or Candy Crush or Emoji Blitz during Ruth’s days.  There was a simple waiting on God to work out His plan for her life.  So how might one just wait on God to work out His plan in their life?  

--Our attitudes help us wait on God to work on our behalf.  Our waiting on the Lord is not biding our time until we finally get the service we’ve been waiting for; but it’s always having our ear and heart attentive to the Master’s voice, ready to minister.  

--To wait on the Lord means that we are to be near Him and attentive so that we may catch the slightest intimation of what He wants for us.  

--We are to wait with a self aware humility and a servant’s heart.  

Those words sound simple enough.  But what happens when we put those words in action?

Maybe you are waiting on a wayward child to find their way back to Jesus.  Maybe you are waiting on a healing for a loved one.  Maybe you are waiting on God to show you the next season in your life.   How well do we wait during those times?  

Much of the time instead of having listening ears and attentive hearts we have running mouths.  Mouths that tell God what we need instead of letting God be God.  Often during those waiting seasons instead of watching what God is doing, we are longing for what we feel He is not doing.  Humble and servant like looks more like entitlement.  Whew!  I really thought when I read those words I totally agreed with them and they sounded good.  But when I put them in context of my waiting season, they didn’t sound so wonderful.

It’s no secret, I find myself waiting on God to bring miraculous healing to people in my home!  Some days, I find myself begging for healing.  And nothing else is good enough.  It doesn’t matter that in the middle of my chaos, I have found a new understanding of what it looks like to love and be loved.  Never mind that in my season of waiting God has opened doors of ministry right in doctors offices.  Words like it’s not fair comes out of my mouth.  I want God to do what I want Him to do and nothing else.  On these days, I find myself miserable inside and others find me miserable outside.

On other days, I pray for healing but I pray for His will to be done and for my faith to remain strong while I wait on healing.  I ask God to open my eyes to the people who need to be loved and show me how to love them in doctors offices, hospitals, clinics, and even in my own home.  These days I am much more peaceful and content.  How I wait makes a huge difference in my life and in the lives around me.  How I wait is my choice.  I can choose to wait in ways that bring me and others to a miserable place or I can choose to wait in a way that brings peace and contentment in my heart and in other’s lives.  Choose today to wait in a way that brings peace and contentment.  

1. Does your mouth run with you talk with God or do you have listening ears and attentive heart?
2. Are you watching for God at work in your life or are you bitter and only longing for what you want God to do?
3. Do you find yourself saying it’s not fair or do you ask God to use you just where you are in the middle of waiting?

--Karen Smith