WAITING…
The endurance challenge in which we all must participate
Waiting is not as simple as the word implies. In fact, it’s not at all appealing in an era in which waiting more than two minutes in a fast food line makes us leave. We can even pay extra and get the fast lane at theme parks, and we can get the doctor’s office to call us when they are just about ready for us so we need not wait.
God doesn’t work that way. He tells us to wait, not to punish us, but to prepare us. He tells us to wait, not because He enjoys seeing us suffer, but to get us ready for His answer or solution to the dilemma we are facing. He tells us to wait, not to drive us into hiding but to show us off as what He can do in and through a person who seems to be “on hold.”
God never asks us to do something for which He does not offer help. He knows the greatest need while waiting is strength of heart because we are prone to want to give up when we are called to wait.
Psalms 27:14 (English Standard Version) Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Isaiah 40:30-31 (ESV) Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
When Elijah was discouraged, God instructed him to wait by the side of the mountain. God used the occasion to prepare the prophet for the next challenge by teaching him something about being in tune to the gentle whisper of God, something he would have missed had he not been in the “waiting mode.”
1 Kings 19:11-12 (ESV) And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.
Waiting causes us to be still so we are in an arrangement to hear from God. If Elijah hadn’t endured in the “waiting mode” – he would not have heard the gentle whisper from God that encouraged him and instructed him.
Psalms 46:10 (ESV) "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
It’s the endurance of being still that is hard to do. Too often we are so busy that the instruction to “be still” in order to hear from God is overlooked so God blesses us with a “waiting” time to help us “be still.” Like an athlete that ignores the signs of overtraining or a person who ignores the signs of becoming a work-a-holic, or the couple that ignore the signs of neglect in their marriage – God often takes us through seasons when we must wait on Him and in that time of dependence upon Him we find the ministry of His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to be most healing and helpful.
God is not looking to add pressure on us to make us suffer while we wait - as we often are able to see once the answer comes. He is actually busy working out the details that were not in place had we not spent the time waiting. A good example was how he had prepared David to defeat Goliath. The army of Israel was waiting on God to deliver and was growing impatient and getting discouraged when David showed up, full of faith, and ready to fight the giant. God had prepared him for the battle and now the battle was prepared for David.
Your waiting may be God preparing the way before you and you for the answer He has on the way.
The book of Job is an example of God displaying a person who is in the “waiting” mode. Job is waiting on God to bring a solution to his suffering. He is not perfect, nor are we, but God uses the occasion to show off what He is able to do with a person who is honest before Him. Job offers his honest thoughts about the waiting and God uses the occasion to teach Job about God. Job’s response:
Job 42:1-6 (ESV) Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
Job received an answer and was blessed for his waiting, as were others in the Bible. No wonder we are given encouragement to look beyond the waiting period to the fact that God will give us strength to wait and bring such good into our lives that the waiting will seem very small in comparison.
Psalms 40:1-3 (ESV) I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
Oh for that new song of praise for the waiting. It’s never easy, rather it’s an endurance challenge that reaps great rewards. Of course the less we have to wait for things in life, the harder it is to wait but there is a great prize to those who hold on and wait on the Lord.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker
Bob is the pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church, Clearwater, Florida. See www.ccpconline.org for church information and listen to Bob’s latest sermons.
FCA Endurance – Clearwater – for information see the FCA link on www.bobbrubaker.com. Please pass the word to athletes in the Clearwater area. For information about FCA Endurance see www.fcaendurance.com .
