Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! – Psalm 27:14 (ESV)
Let’s face it, waiting can be tough – especially when it is something, we have been waiting our whole lives for.
Some people spend their lives waiting for the one. The one who will take care of us, someone who will make us feel better, someone we can share our hopes and dreams with and so on.
For others, it can be waiting for the right job, the right business opportunity, the right time to make a decision or it could be something else. In some cases, it can be all these things and more.
No matter what you are waiting for, we all encounter the same problem sooner or later. That problem is wanting it now and not later. In a world where everything is almost instant, we have learnt to forego waiting in return for immediate gratification.
Patience, a virtue that many of us lack is thrown out of the window and in return we get frustrated and even angry when we don’t get what we want straight away. Some may even become bitter and disillusioned when they don’t receive whatever it is, they are waiting for. They begin to look for someone to blame and that someone usually ends up being God.
The main thing all of us must learn is that God’s timing and our timing is not the same thing. There may be many reasons why God wants us to wait for something. Our job is not to question God and to get angry at Him for not giving us what we want when we want it. Our job is to learn patience, to be strong and to be courageous.
What about the times we spend waiting and then we don’t get what we wanted anyways? God uses the time we wait to help us grow and hopefully learn more about Him. When we take the time to listen to God, we find out more about his plans for us. Everything God has for us involves waiting of varying degrees – sometimes it is only for a short time and sometimes it could be longer, even a lifetime. No matter how long the wait we can take courage and know that all God’s plans work out for His and our good.
When you decide on a course of action or have a dream that you want to fulfil, the key thing is to take it to God first and wait for his answer. It may be a long and hard wait, or it may be short and sweet – whatever it is, by persevering, you will be blessed in one way or another.
Waiting is a game and how we play matters. We can either play it for the here and now or we can play it for the future and eternity. It is up to us to decide how we will play the game.
Originally published at Inspirational Christian Blogs – June 2016
Edited July 2024