The Waiting Isn’t Wasted
I’ve written about waiting before on my blog, but for some reason, I feel the Lord calling me to write on this topic again. Because, if I’m being honest, I’m tired of waiting. But a lot of the times in faith, I have to remind my soul why I’m waiting on God’s timing instead of my own. I figured I can’t be the only one out there that can feel discouraged in the waiting.
We don’t really like to wait in our society. Everything is so fast-paced, so in-the-moment, that we don’t know how to wait anymore. If the drive-thru line at Chick-Fil-A takes more than ten minutes, I’m not waiting. If the line is long somewhere, I will go find another place that has a shorter line. The point is, we don’t like to wait. I don’t like to wait. Humans don’t like waiting.
When I think about waiting, I get frustrated because it seems like there isn’t a point or purpose behind the waiting. Like, God, what are you doing here? I’m fed up with waiting on God’s timing. There, I said it. Because sometimes, it feels like God isn’t answering my prayer. It seems like I see him answering everyone else’s prayer but mine. I know that may sound dramatic, but I know we have all been there a time or two when waiting on God. Like, God, are you even there? Do you even hear me?
I don’t know what it is you’re waiting on. Maybe it’s a job, a house, a child, a dream, a spouse, or someone you love to be healed. No matter what it is, we’re all waiting on something. Even if you don’t believe in God, you’ve practiced waiting.
Because we expect everything so instantaneously, the waiting can feel pointless. But I’m here to tell you and remind myself that in God’s kingdom, waiting isn’t wasted. Noah spent years faithfully building the ark while waiting for the rain. Abraham and Sarah waited decades for a son that God had promised to them (they even tried to go about it their own way instead of trusting in God’s timing). David waited fifteen years from the time he was anointed by Samuel to be king to when he actually became the king of Israel. Jesus spent roughly thirty years living an ordinary life before beginning His public ministry. Scripture is full of people who waited, of people who trusted in God before they could see what He was doing. So, why do I still get frustrated with waiting if I know the waiting isn’t wasted?
Because knowing something in my head doesn’t mean I’ve learned to trust God with my heart.
The truth is, God does some of His deepest work within us in the waiting. I once heard a pastor say that “Waiting isn’t a season; waiting is life.” Hearing that has shaped the way I view the waiting, because it isn’t just a season, but waiting is life with God. God uses waiting to teach us so many different things about ourselves, about others, about the world, and about Him. Here are just a few things He does within us in the waiting-
God uses waiting to teach us to trust in Him.
The first Bible verse I ever remember memorizing as a kid was Proverbs 3:5-6. I can quote this verse by heart. It says,
"Trust in the Lord with ALL of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
The Hebrew word for trust is bāṭaḥ. This word means to “feel safe, rely on, or lean on with full weight upon something secure”. This word implies not a passive emotion, but one of complete and total surrender. It’s the picture of throwing yourself down into safety or taking refuge in a strong place.
I have never regretted not putting my trust in the Lord. Though sometimes, I do it kicking and screaming, but every time it produces deeper trust within me that I can trust Him with everything in me, even when it doesn’t make sense. Often times, before God can work through us, He has to do something in us.
The Lord calls us to trust in Him with ALL of our hearts. He wants every part of us, every piece of us, and every portion of us.
God uses waiting to prepare us for what He has for us.
I know that God doesn’t waste the waiting, because I have seen Him work on things within me that have needed pruning, sanctifying, and rebirth. God uses the waiting for us to become who He has created us to be, someone made after His image and His liking. Sometimes, He does this by stripping away parts of us from the inside out. It’s a painful process, but one that is so worth it in the end, because we come out looking more like Jesus on the other side. Jesus references this in John 15:2. He says this,
“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more” (NLT).
We become more sanctified and more like Him when we let Him prune us in the waiting.
God uses waiting to change our desires to His desires.
Many of us know the verse Psalm 37:4. I used to think this verse meant that God would give me everything I wanted. But the more I’ve meditated on what it means to delight in the Lord, the more I’ve realized that delighting in Him changes my desires.
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires” (NLT).
The more deeply I know Him, the more my desires are shaped by His desires for me.
God uses the waiting to teach us dependence on Him and Him alone.
As we wait on the Lord, we become dependent on Him and Him alone. This is one of my favorite things about the waiting. I become so dependent on the Lord, that I want what only He has for me. Psalm 62:1-2 is another verse that God has written on my heart, and the Psalmist says this,
“I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken” (NLT).
Something I think we can do better as Christians is to stop promising people they will get what they’re waiting for. Though there is good heart and intention behind it, we sometimes tell our brothers and sisters in Christ, “Keep praying. God is going to give you what you’re asking for.” But we actually don’t know that for certain.
Because sometimes, He doesn’t give us what we want. But He always gives us what we need.
God will always be faithful to us, even when we don’t get the answer we want. Sometimes we wait and God says yes. Sometimes we wait and God says not yet. Sometimes we wait and God says no. We don’t like the not yet and no answers, but the reality is that is often where God takes us in our waiting. So, what is the point of waiting? The point of waiting isn’t to simply get an answer from God. The point of waiting is to learn to trust that God is still good, whether the answer is yes, no, or not yet.
The purpose of faith isn’t that we have all the answers. The purpose of faith is continuing to trust in the One who does have the answers. Paul declares in 2nd Corinthians 5:7, “For we live by faith, not by sight” (NLT). Faith is the point of the waiting.
So, I don’t know what you’re waiting on. Maybe you’ve been waiting for years with a prayer that feels unanswered. Can I tell you today that I’m in the same boat? I’ve been praying to God for a spouse for years, with what seems like no answer, no prospects, and the feeling that time is running out.
But can I tell you what’s happened in the waiting?
I’ve learned deep within my soul to trust in God, even through the ups and downs. I’ve grown closer to Him in ways I couldn’t imagine through this waiting. I’ve become more aware of my need for Him. I’ve watched Him sanctify parts of me I didn’t realize needed sanctifying, because the waiting has stripped away so many things I used to rely on instead of Him. And slowly, over time, He’s changed my desires- not so that I don’t want what I’ve always wanted, but so I want HIM more than I want His answer.
Maybe one day, I’ll see why God made me wait. I’ll understand why it seemed that He made me wait longer than others. Maybe I’ll understand why His timing was different than mine. Maybe I’ll see that He was preparing me for something I couldn’t see coming.
Or maybe I won’t. But I do know that He will do more than I can ask, think, or imagine with the prayers that I pray (Ephesians 3:20).
And that’s the hard part. Because faith doesn’t promise that we’ll eventually understand what God is doing. Faith asks us to continue to trust in Him, even when we don’t understand the point of the waiting.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Romans 8:28. It’s actually the verse this blog is based off of. Paul says this,
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (NLT).
The truth is, I know this verse by heart, yet sometimes I still question if I actually believe it. God, are you really working everything together for my good? Are you really seeing what I’m going through? Do you really have a good plan for me?
One thing I know is true, despite all of my questions to God- the waiting isn’t wasted.
God is still good.
God is still working.
God is still faithful.
Jesus is still Lord.
Even in the midst of waiting.
And even when I don’t know what He’s doing, because of the waiting, I’ve grown to know more of who He is.
