CAN YOU WAIT?

What God does in us while we wait is as important as what it is we are waiting for.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Psalm 27:14

I’ve heard people say that “wait” is a four-letter word.

Waiting is one of the hardest things there is to do.  Do you remember waiting for something important to you as a kid, like your birthday, Christmas, or summer vacation?  It seemed to take forever for time to pass and for that important occasion to arrive.  And there were other times of waiting that were not filled with such eager anticipation, for instance, “Just wait until your father gets home!”  Either way, waiting always proved very hard to do.

Even as adults, waiting for something is not always easy. 

We’re waiting for payday, waiting for the weekend, waiting for a phone call, or most challenging of all, waiting for an answer to prayer.

We are told to bring all our cares and concerns to God in prayer and that He hears and answers every prayer.  But a large part of praying consists of waiting, and of all the waiting we do in life, waiting for an answer to prayer is the hardest.  Why is that?  Is it because we must trust that God, who we cannot see, has indeed heard us?  Or is it because we feel helpless unless we do something?  Waiting, to me, is not doing something.

One time I was praying desperately over an agonizing family situation.

An argument had caused an enormous rift in my family, one so serious that I feared it might never be healed.  I felt helpless.  I didn’t know what else to do but pray—and wait.  I am a doer who prefers to face conflict sooner rather than later and make every effort to resolve all differences.  But that was not happening in this situation, and months passed without any contact, let alone progress toward resolution.  I grew impatient and afraid, so I began to think and plan all kinds of ways to resolve the issue because I just couldn’t keep on waiting for the answer to my prayers.  I had to do something.

During fervent prayer on this matter with God, I felt Him speak to my heart.  He said, “Jean, you can go ahead with your plans and try to resolve this on your own, or you can wait for my solution.”

When God puts it to me like that, I know He has a plan.

So I responded, “Father, I’ll wait for your solution, but you will have to help me with the waiting part because that is way too hard for me!”  And before I knew it, two weeks had passed, and I hadn’t given the situation a single thought!

A few more months passed, but I was at peace—a true miracle considering the gravity of this family disagreement.  (And an answer to my prayer for God to help me wait!)  Then, the best of all things happened.  We were contacted by the offended family members, and they invited us to get together with them to reconcile! An answer to my prayer!  This time of reconciliation was managed biblically under the supervision of a mediator (I told you the situation was grave).  Our time of reconciliation could not have been more peaceful, meaningful, and beautiful.  I guess that was the solution God wanted me to wait for because it was perfect!  The family rift is way behind us now, and things continue to improve, praise God!

We’re told that God answers prayer in one of three ways: Yes, No, or Wait.

I’ve learned to look at those three possible answers in a fresh way. Yes, of course, is wonderful! No means because God has something even better than what I have prayed for. And God has shown me beyond all doubt that Wait is never wasted time.  Waiting can even work out to be for my benefit in wonderfully unexpected ways because I actually can do something while I wait—and that is trust Him to have the perfect answer in His perfect time.