The Importance of Waiting

Waiting has been the theme for a few of my friends and myself for the past few weeks. Waiting on timing, waiting on confirmation, and waiting on the Lord to move. And I’ve been wondering why we’ve had to do so much waiting. I know and believe that God is good to His word and that He can do all things so why the need for patience? Today while in prayer the answer came to me.

When we wait upon the Lord He builds up our faith in Him. That’s something we’ve always been taught. But there is another reason He asks us to wait. Many times if He answered our request and prayers immediately we wouldn’t have the same trust in Him that we do after we wait. Waiting is hard, take it from someone who’s had some experience. God puts us through this trial not because He wants to see us worry and fret but because He wants to build trust in Him. If we cannot wait on Him and trust in His timing then how can we lean on Him in harder times?

For example if you are waiting for God to bless you with say a boyfriend and you jump the gun what have you just done? First of all you haven’t waited on His timing and secondly, if it wasn’t from Him then how can you expect God to bless that relationship? Where does your trust come from when you and your new boyfriend are having a fight? Will you have the kind of faith in God to know that its all going to work out? Probably not. But if you wait on God and on His timing then He will be in the relationship and when you have that fight and it looks like its not going to work then you can look back on the time you waited for God to put you and “Bobby” together and in that your faith and trust will be uplifted because God had you wait for this, and He’s not going to let the relationship fail because of a little fight.

The same goes for anything God is having you wait on. He’s doing it to not only build up your faith but give you a source of confirmation for the future. He’s using that time of waiting to say, “Look you waited on me and I blessed you for it, do you think that I’d take it away so easily?” Have trust in the Lord and wait on Him. The bible says in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on 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.” Not only is this verse awesome in this context but if you look at the verses that precede it in Isaiah it is talking about how awesome God is and how He will not ever grow faint or weary and that nothing can be compared to Him. This is telling us how awesome and amazing our God is, and if He is like that then look at what He will do for us when we wait for Him, He will raise us up and strengthen us. So don’t worry about His timing take peace in it and wait for Him to prepare your heart for what He is doing.

David says in Psalm 40: 1-4,“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth- Praise to out God; Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud not such as turn aside to lies.”

God rewards those who wait and trust in Him. How much better will your relationship, your dream, your desire, and you need be after waiting on the Lord? Lamentations 3:25 tells us, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;” Why do you think He is having you wait? Maybe He is preparing your heart or the hearts of those you will interact with. But whatever the personal reason is I also believe that He is doing it to build up a trust and faith in Him that only comes from waiting for His timing. Wait on the Lord and put your trust in Him for whatever problem you are going through and He will take care of it. I dare you.

More verses to consider:

Psalm 130:5-6

James 5:11

Psalm 25:4-5

Galatians 6:9

Proverbs 3:5-6

Psalm 62:5-8

Romans 5:3-4

Hebrews 6:15

2 Corinthians 6:4-5

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

James 1:12

Psalm 27:14