Hurry Up and Wait

I am not very good at waiting.  

I try to make the best of it by filling it with productive things to make the time worthwhile.  If I know I'm going to have to wait at the Dr.'s office, (after waiting on the bus and the metro to get there,) I catch up on reading and/or podcasts.  If I find myself with unexpected downtime on the run, I can always update the agenda or make lists for things I can do later.  If I have to wait on more important things, like an answer from God on what our future holds, I try to get as many things planned out and/or completed based on different possibilities He may present us.  (As if I even knew all the possibilities He is capable of!)

 Long lines are boring

I have a lot of dear friends in my life right now who also find themselves in a season of waiting:  Waiting for the pain of loss to stop hurting so much... Waiting for a deadline to approach to know what the next job/phase of life holds... Waiting at 41 weeks for the moment when she'll finally become a mother (Oh how I empathize so much!)...  Waiting for reconciliation and healing from a broken relationship...

It is hard to give counsel when the last thing a person wants to hear is, "It'll just take time..."  Because that is what makes waiting hard.  It takes time = It is completely out of your control.  There is nothing you can do to hurry the process, and there is no way to gain control of the situation.

So I have been wanting to know, live, and experience...  

What does it mean to wait on the Lord?

According to how it's used in the Bible, waiting on the Lord means: to bind together, look patiently, hope, expect, look eagerly, trust, wait in hope.

I once heard or read somewhere that "wait" is just as much an active verb as any other.  It doesn't mean that life pauses until something seemingly more important happens.  Which, looking back at my life thus far, I would have to agree: My most formative seasons have been in between the "big events," the times of uncertainty and/or trials where I have no other option but to hope in and trust God to put me back on my feet and tell me where to go and what to do.

So what can make the waiting worthwhile?

Here's what I just got from reading and praying through Psalm 37:7-9:

- Rest in the Lord: stop trying to control things on my own

- wait patiently: this requires the Holy Spirit, again something I can't do on my own (patience)

- Do not fret: 2 references in 3 verses, must be important

- Do not worry: "Worry leads to evildoing.." 

- Those who WAIT will inherit the land: Land = God's promises for my life

- Not fretting because of him who prospers: Stop looking at/comparing myself to others

It seems that there are two ways to wait: 

1) Try to retain a (false) sense of control by acting in ways that are either productive or destructive distractions.  Looking at others, worrying, desiring to have the knowledge of the future for myself. 

 

2) Waiting on and with God: surrendering control and my desire for knowledge, expecting God to fulfill His promises in His own timing, refusing to compare myself to others, relying on the Holy Spirit to give me patience in the process. 

 "But I don't want to!!!"

Oh yeah, "Rest in the Lord and don't worry!"  I know these are obviously not easy tasks.  And I know that is the point: None of these things are natural desires or abilities we hold on our own.  If it is to be a holy, worthwhile, waiting, it can only be done with the power of God's spirit in us.  

If you as well find yourself in a season of waiting, I want to encourage you at the same time as reminding myself of these truths every day.  God has a promised land for us, and it will most definitely not come in the timing and in the ways we are even capable of imagining!  So let's just embrace it, embrace the unknown, and grow even closer to Him by trusting that what He's got for those of us who can wait with Him will be far greater than anything we could ever create on our own.