Peace in the Waiting

 

I am a person who enjoys peace.  Peace can mean different things to me at different times.  Today, as I write this, it is a gloomy day outside, with rain pouring down.  I flicked on all the beautiful stained-glass lamps I have in my home that my father made and lit a candle.  As I write this, I am at peace.  During times of struggles, or waiting for prayers to be answered, my peace escapes me.  Peace is replaced with anxiousness and worry.

Our verse for today is so appropriate for times when our waiting is filled with anything but peace.  If there was a Biblical character who had reason for a time in his life where peace escaped him, it would be Job.  The story of Job can be hard to digest.  The world around Job, including his own health, is replaced by heartache in different ways.  Yet, Job continued to wait on the Lord.  He did not rush God but waited for the goodness of God to return to him.  Job submitted his life to God and was at peace. 

In this world of instant gratification, it can be challenging to wait for anything, especially an answer from God.  Our ability to get answers quickly has left us wanting to hear from God immediately.  Finding peace in the waiting can tug at our hearts, leaving us frustrated.  This is where our Lord steps in!  When we truly give our requests to God and wait on His response, we realize that nothing we can do or say will rush God’s process.  As I have shared often with those around me, God will answer when it is His time.  Isaiah 60:22 shares, “…I am the Lord; in its time I do this swiftly.” 

As author Lysa Terkeurst says often, “God is good all the time.”  That He is!  While we wait for prayers or requests to be answered, we can find peace.  It is the peace that only God can give.  We cannot find His peace from anything in this world during difficult times. No matter how many stained-glass lamps I put on, I will not be able to find peace for my troubled heart unless I fully surrender to God’s timing.  John 14:27 states it perfectly, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Friends, in this world where peace can be in short supply, go to God.  God is good, all the time, even in the waiting.  His ways are perfect, ours are not.  Give Him your prayers and wait on Him.  Have Simple Faith that He will always be there for you.

Video that complements this post:  Peace in the Waiting

Dearest Lord, waiting can be a challenging time for me.  Although I may grow during this time, and trust in your goodness, I can be anxious and peace can evade me.  Please soften my soul and fill it with the peace that only you can provide, the peace that passes all understanding.  In your name I pray, Amen!

Trust in the Waiting

 

As we continue our Waiting in the Lord series, we will delve into trusting in the waiting.  Waiting is not necessarily a great behavior trait of mine.  I tend to have a plan and will execute on that plan.  If something gets in the way that causes me to wait, well, let us just say it can get ugly.  When the plan starts drifting, and I need to wait, I start dreading.  I dread what may change, how the timeline will be affected, what the final result will look like and what if someone completes a plan similar to mine before me. 

I know the right thing to do is to give it to our Lord and wait on His mighty hand.  As I lie awake at 3AM worrying about the progress of whatever plan I have in my lap, I give it to God.  I know He can manage it.  I know His way is best.  I can trust Him.  Then an hour later I am still awake planning on what I can do to ‘rush God along.’ 

As Christians, trusting God over our lives should be fundamental.  We know the plans He has for us, “…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” in Jeremiah 29:11.  Yet, how often do we find ourselves questioning God’s plan, especially when we have to wait for His plan to unveil itself.  Every time I have played tug-of-war with God, I have lost.  When I give Him my plan and then take it back because I do not want to wait for His plan, I have lost. 

Friends, when we truly give what is in our hearts to God, and wait for His response, we gain trust in His mighty works.  No matter what we do or how we do it, it will never be better than what God has in store for us.  Our job during the waiting is to trust in that goodness.  During the waiting, He is with us, “… He will never leave you nor forsake you,” Deuteronomy 31:6.  When we trust God, our simple faith in what He can do in our lives grows.  Our ability to gain trust in God moving forward grows.  We learn that waiting is good, not dreading the outcome. 

The world today does not provide us with much opportunity to trust.  It is hard to trust our leaders, hard to trust organizations, hard to trust people.  God is above ALL of that.  God is the One we can trust with true confidence that the best will be gained through Him.  Yes, we may have to wait for that goodness.  I would rather wait in God than move forward in me.  I will always trust the Lord’s ways over mine.  It can be hard, but it is always worth it.

The next time you want to move forward and not wait in the Lord’s way, step back.  Breathe, pray, and give it to God.  He will bring you the absolute best for the situation – even if it was not in our plan.  Do not dread the outcome – look forward to what God has for you by trusting Him in the waiting period.

Video that complements this post:  Trust in the Waiting

Dearest Lord, help me to trust You in all You have for my life.  When I need to wait, wait for answers to prayers or a path moving forward, give me the opportunity to trust you and the plans you have for my life.  They will always be greater than what I had planned – I just need to have the trust in You!  Amen.

Growth in the Waiting

 

Welcome to our new series – Waiting in the Lord!  Waiting can be some of the most frustrating moments in our lives.  Whether it be simple as waiting in a grocery line or waiting for health test results, the waiting can find us agitated, impatient, and ultimately, frustrated.  As Christians, when we pray, we expect answers from God.  He tells us to go to Him in prayer and He will deliver.  Mark 11:24 states, “Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

God does answer our prayers.  For me, the yes and even the no answers I seem to understand and accept.  It’s the ‘wait’ response that gets me every time.  During the waiting, I find myself working with my timeline and not God’s timeline.  Often, I will work on getting the answer to my prayer myself, in essence, taking back from God what I put into His hands.  That always ends up in a situation that I regret.

In the waiting, much can happen.  We can actually grow as Christians during this time.  When I was going through marital strife with my first marriage, I constantly prayed to God for answers.  He made me wait, a VERY long time, for those answers.  During that wait, though, my faith grew.  My reliance on God not just for answers to my marriage but other areas of my life began to grow.  I delved deeper into my Bible.  I was looking for answers there, God was having my Bible knowledge grow.

While waiting, we don’t typically see how we are growing.  It is after waiting that we can see where we were and how far we have come.  In a world where immediate gratification is becoming widely accepted, it is easy to take back what we are giving God in prayer so we can be more comfortable with our situation.  We can view waiting as suffering.  This is when I turn to one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  Romans 5:3-5 shares, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” 

Our Lord is good, all the time!  Yes, He is good even in the waiting.  We need to slow down and realize that God’s timeline and outcomes will always be better than our own.  We need to move from immediacy to slowness.  We need to view our time of waiting as a time to grow – in faith and in knowledge.  How can you grow during the wait?  Get into the Bible and see what it has to say about your situation.  Seek out a Christian friend to have coffee with.  Select a church group to get involved in.  It’s your time to grow and see how far you have come when the wait if over!  Have Simple Faith!

Video that complements this post:  Growth in the Waiting

Dearest Lord, help me to grow when I am in a waiting period for my prayer.  May I leave with you what I give you until you answer my prayer and guide me to areas where I can grow.  Amen!