What's to Come When We Wait...

Ever since I committed my life to Jesus, time and time again I’ve heard the saying, “God answers our prayers with one of three answers: Yes, no, or not yet.” A simple and straight forward yes or no always seems like an easier pill to swallow, but what happens when we are told “yes, but not now…”?

After a whole lot of reflection, I’ve realized that when I pray to God for something, my prayers tend to come with a personal time stamp. Whether it be praying that Jesus would pull through with a miracle on my next exam, place me on someone’s heart, or even open a door for a new work opportunity, I have learned to hate (and avoid at all costs) the concept of waiting. If I pray, I need an answer now. If the answer to that prayer is yes, I need that to be a yes to right now. It’s my money, and I need it now! (hahah jk)

We live in a society that is OBSESSED with immediate gratification, yet we are called to not conform to the patterns of the world. What does this mean for all of us who keep finding ourselves struggling to be like Paul and “have endurance and JOY while you wait” (Colossians 1:11)? I can say with complete conviction that while it’s much easier said than done, we are called to wait on the Lord. After a long and growing season of countless “not yet” answers from God, all I wanted was a “yes”, but Jesus blessed me with what I needed, which was a shift of perspective.

When I found myself frustrated with the constant waiting that the Lord planned for me in my most recent season of patience, I felt a tug in my heart to continue being intentional about glorifying God with my time. My first instinct was to become involved in every single thing I could in order to be as efficient and productive as humanly possible, and as a result glorify God. As you can imagine, that only led to a first-class ticket to insane stress, shallow relationships due to lack of time, sleepless nights on end, and trying to pour into others when I was running on empty myself. Because we serve an incredibly graceful and sovereign king, God rescued me from my over-commitment, and began to take things off my plate. But as things were taken off my plate, I ended up with hours upon hours of free time, which made me come to the ultimate realization. While trying to efficiently wait on the Lord through taking on more responsibility, I missed all of the opportunities He had already placed in front of me. The opportunities I have in everyday life, without the glitz and glam of praying for people at an altar call of a church service, or holding a leadership position within a student organization. Every interaction I have with someone in class, every smile I pass on to a stranger, every time I meet up with a friend who needs someone to hear them out is an opportunity to show others the love and grace of Jesus and glorify His name.

When God calls us to WAIT, He isn’t asking us to DISTRACT ourselves from being patient in order to make the hours, days, or months go by faster. Sometimes, waiting on the Lord means literally WAITING and growing in strength and perseverance in trusting that the Lord will never fall through on His promises! When we wait, we may look empty-handed to the world because we don’t YET have what we want or have asked God for, but we are still not forsaken. REJOICE! How good and generous is our God that while He works on our good, all He asks is that we sit and rest in His shadow? When we look back and see the way that the Lord has continuously given us the desires of our heart, AND the heavens and the Earth at our fingertips, it’s hard to believe that still He does not sleep, but instead works on our behalf, and then lays us down to rest. Don’t look at being patient as a burden. See it as a blessing that our great and amazing Father is moving mountains for us, and all we have to do is wait and prepare our hearts to receive His blessings.

We pray differently when we know we are going to receive what we ask for. God tells us clearly in Matthew 7:7-8 to “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the doors shall be opened.” Take a second to envision a father who loves and adores his son or daughter. His child comes up to him beaming with excitement as they ask for something. Out of an abundance of love for his child, the father gladly gives it to them without reservation and rejoices to give his child the desires of their heart. If this is done by our humanly fathers, how much more will our Heavenly Father provide for us and rejoice as He gives? When you know that you are going to receive something you want, you put it on the backburner of your brain and it doesn’t consume your thoughts. You move on with your everyday life and if/when it comes across your mind, you smile and get excited and thankful, while remaining faithful that you’re going to receive it. While you wait to see the goodness of the Lord, praise His name and pray excitedly with thanksgiving, staying faithful that Jesus' promises will always be fulfilled. While you wait, prepare your heart to receive His blessings. Dig deeper into the Word and ask God for wisdom on how to use His gift for His glory. Prepare yourself in the “no” or “not yet” season so that when the Lord says “okay, now, GO!” you’ve already taken up your shield of faith and are off to the races!