Waiting. I’m going to admit something that probably only my family and closest friends know – I’m not the most patient person. In fact, I quit praying for patience, because God answered my prayers by putting me in positions that required me to be patient. (You understand that is how it works, right? If you pray for something like patience – you will not wake up with an unbelievable measure of patience – you will be placed in situations where your patience is going to be developed. God is concerned with your character, not your convenience.) God, however, is not fooled – He continues to place me in situations to develop my patience, because it is in my best interest. If I appear patient, it’s because I work on it every day.
Is it hard for you to wait? More importantly – did you know that you will often have to wait for the Lord? Did you also know waiting would test your strength and courage?
We often have a “microwave mentality.” We want our food…and we want it now. I don’t want to wait an hour for a baked potato – I want it in 5 minutes. My popcorn package says 2:30, but at 2:10 the bag is out of there – I’m ready to eat! How often are we like that with God? ” God – give me patience – and give it to me right now!” We want to see evidence of God working in our lives immediately. We want proof our prayers are answered today. But if we believe Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” then we must believe that in God’s timing we will see the proof that He is working in our lives.
In Esther 5:6-8 we see the setup that will be evidenced in the coming verses and chapters. Esther has a plan to present her request before the King, but postpones her request until the banquet the next day. We will see how the delay in her request is then timed perfectly with God’s plan for honoring Mordecai and saving the Jews. If you look through the Bible you will see many more examples of God’s timing. Think about Abraham: God called him to leave his country and follow him. He told Abraham that He would make him a father of many nations. Do you know how long Abraham had to wait for God to fulfill that promise and send him Isaac? Over 40 years! What about David? He was anointed King of Israel as a boy, yet he had to wait over 30 years to be crowned King – and many of those years were filled with despair and fear for his life from the reigning King of Israel!
Ladies, if you will allow me, I want to share something personal with you. About two years ago I went through a fairly challenging year spiritually. You see, I have felt the call of God very strongly on my life for several years, but I couldn’t quite figure out what He wanted of me. I began the year by again surrendering everything to God, and said that He could use me any way He wanted. I prayed. I fasted. I studied the Scripture. And I felt…nothing. No urging. No assignment. There were things that I felt He laid on my heart to study, however, and so I did. I poured myself into the Scriptures daily. I was faithful to what He put in my path.
As the year progressed, I became discouraged – did God not want anything from me? Was I not strong enough? Did I not know enough? Was I always going to be mediocre? I felt as if I was in God’s classroom and He was calling for helpers – and no matter how often I raised my hand He picked someone else. I felt this way for an entire year. But then, one day, two women came into my small group who had serious issues: addictions, chaos in the home, doubt as to their worth in God’s eyes (one had in the past been suicidal). And, through the Holy Spirit, I knew how to speak to them. (They are still active friends in my life, by the way, and God is working MIGHTILY in their lives – praise God!) I was amazed at how I responded! And on my way home from church, God revealed Himself to me so strongly it felt like a punch in the chest – THIS is what He prepared me for. I am an encourager – this is my primary gifting. This is why He spent a year preparing me (and continues to prepare me) – “to know the word that sustains the weary” (Isaiah 50:4, NIV). I learned about spiritual warfare and strengthened my prayer life so that I would be an intercessor, a watchman on the wall. God sends me broken people – and it’s my job (and privilege) to care for them.
What is God preparing YOU for? Will you reject this time of waiting because you need immediate proof? Or will you ask God to strengthen you, to teach you, to grow you, to prepare you while you are waiting for His promises in your life to be fulfilled?
Let’s pray:
Lord, how great are Your promises, how great is Your patience! Your timing is perfect and Your will is amazing. Teach me, Lord, to wait for you! Help me to see the waiting time as productive time. Help me to see Your hand in my life. Help me to be faithful to the small things You place before me, as You are faithful to even the smallest detail in my life. Thank You, Lord, for Your incredible love for me, and thank You for allowing me to be used in Your service and for Your glory! In the name of Your Son we pray.
Amen.
About Robin Caddell
Robin, thank you for this lesson on patience, and sharing your own personal examples. I tend to think I’m a pretty patient person, and then something or someone “challenges” that and I am reminded that I need a lot more of that fruit of the Spirit! 🙂 I needed this reminder that God is preparing me, strengthening me, teaching me–as I wait on Him. I also need to remember that He can use even the small everyday events that try my patience to grow me. I need to focus more on Him and less on the “small stuff.”
Amen to your prayer!
Thank you, Clella! Waiting on God’s timing can be a tad challenging – but it’s always worth it! And “Amen!” to focusing more on Him, and less on the small stuff! 🙂
Thank you for the beautful lesson/examples you’ve laid out here, Robin! So happy you found your calling and that your year of waiting prepared you along the way. God bless!
*beautiful*
God bless you, as well! Isn’t it great to have the blessing of hindsight? You can look back over many periods of life and see where God was using that time to prepare you for something greater! 🙂
Sometimes it’s so easy to want to jump ahead of God’s timing and try to do it in our own strength, and we see later what a disaster that was. Had we waited for God to say “NOW is the time”, it would have gone so much easier.
Example: Years ago, we were in the process of buying a house. My husband at that time, was a drywall finisher for the Drywall Union. He made very good money, so buying a house didn’t seem like such a big deal. We knew we could afford it. But very soon after signing the intent to buy papers, God put it in my spirit that we needed to back out of the deal, and do it immediately. My husband was not walking with the Lord at that time, and he refused to do as God was showing me, stating “Just think of the money we will make once we finish up all the work on the house, and sell it for another $20,000 more than what we paid!!!” Even the Realtor kept telling us that! BUT GOD kept saying “back out now!”
I felt God saying this so strongly that I finally told my husband that if he was going to continue with buying the house, he needed to do it completely on his own…I would not be signing any papers with him. He went through with the purchase of the house anyway.
SIX WEEKS LATER, the drywall union went bust in Denver Colorado, and people lost jobs left and right….We were included in that!!! We went from a good paying job of $20/hour (back then that was EXCELLENT wages) to NOTHING!!!!
Jobs were scarce, so very scarce, and we had to take whatever we could get for work, and income. Within the next year we began to get behind on our payments because of having no steady work…and at the point of being almost six months behind on our mortgage, we put the house up for sale. Within two months, we had a buyer…and we thought everything was going to be totally okay…until they backed out at the last minute!!! We found ourselves struggling to find yet another buyer, and trying to convince the mortgage company not to foreclose on us!
Then one day, I attended a Women’s Luncheon at our church, and our Pastor was actually speaking that day. I was full of stress that day, not knowing how God was going to pull us out of this mess we had gotten ourselves into. I kept crying out to God to help us. At the end of that luncheon, our pastor began praying over us, and he stopped, pointed his finger at me and said “The Lord has heard the cry of your heart….” and from that point on I can’t tell you what he said because I dropped to my knees and began to sob!!! It was the most beautiful thing anyone could have said to me!!
Three weeks later, another buyer came on board, and we closed on the house in less than 3 weeks. Buy borrowing money from his parents to keep the house from foreclosure, we were able to sell the house before the bank took it back, and after closing costs and etc., we walked out of there with $125 in our pockets!
Had we listened to God when He said back out, we would have never gone through that mess. He knew what was coming up with the drywall union…we did not. We just needed to trust Him that He knew, and do as He told us. But since we did not listen and we proceeded anyway, we paid the consequences of being disobedient, and trusting His timing. God sustained us throughout that whole time though, and even gave us a little extra spending cash when it was all said and done!
GOD’S TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT.
Wow – what an amazing testimony about not only God’s timing, but His faithfulness!! “His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.” Sometimes, because we can’t see the big picture, we like to “help God out” by following through with our own agenda, even if we have a leading to the contrary. How awesome that God was able to use that experience and turn it around for your good! 😀
Thank you for sharing, Christi, what a great example to go with this lesson! (We must need to hear this more than once because I speak about God’s timing in an upcoming blog.) 🙂
oh, the lesson we each need to learn through this! robin, i love where you referenced romans 8:28 and wrote, “…we must believe that in God’s timing we will see the proof that He is working in our lives.” He is faithful…couldn’t be one bit MORE faithful! i am so thankful that He is also patient and longsuffering towards us, giving us grace upon grace upon grace! <3
Amen to that, Coleen! GREAT is His faithfulness! 😀
Someone once told me that rather we pray for patients or not, God is putting us in situations everyday that tries our patience in little ways. Our we ready to let God increase our patince with bigger things. I love the way God has used you because of your patience for the big things for his work. Sounds like by you waiting on God to prepare you, he was able to use you when these two ladies needed God the most, and by your patience and obedience you were able to touch the lives of these two ladies who are now your friends. I’m sure these ladies are blessed to have you as a part of their lives for support and encouragement. Thanks for sharing how waiting on God’s timing will allow him to mold us and use os in mighty ways.
Thank you, Gloria! The most beautiful thing about the women who are my friends is seeing how God is working amazing changes in their lives – they are true blessings! God will us all of us, if we are just willing to let Him lead the way. 🙂
I love how this makes me think of the song: “While I’m Waiting” by John Waller. That song has carried me through so major trying times, waiting for His perfect timing!
Thank God for music! Isn’t it awesome how just the right song will carry us through difficult times, and help us celebrate good ones?
this was an excellent blog today. I am a very impatient person, I do want things now, the microwave answer. When I pray I want answers now, I want to the see everything happen right now and if I don’t then I really begin to think God doesn’t listen to me. I get full of doubt. Yes the Lord does say to wait on Him and His timing, but again what about my timing? I am so trying to learn trusting right now and again its hard. So right now it’s extremely hard for me with this whole government shut down. My husband is out of work and we have rent and bills and food and looking at our account~well we need a miracle. I prayed since this whole pathetic ordeal and for the past 2 nights I just kept waiting for the phone to ring telling my husband he can go back to work. Watching the news tonight, Obama and the other party are not going to budge, if I heard right it could be a month, so again I started getting so fearful, I was wondering what God is up to.He knows the whole picture, He see’s and I”m sure shaking His head. I wanted to cry, yes I know that this is a time to learn trust and not worry right after. Its hard waiting on God,I kept trying to remind myself today EVERYTHING he did in the Bible in those days, yes He worked miracles, BUT I have doubts again, fear, I know He loves me and wouldn’t let harm come to me, I know that I think on that but cannot get it through my mind. My soul, my heart!! Again, I want answers now, ok it’s been 2 days God, what are you doing? I don’t see answers. Again that word patience, Gods timing!! But again I have a hard time with all that. I’m trying though. I read my Bible today, I underlined so much and kept thinking, “wow God look what you did, you can do that now” and seriously I mean now!! Again God is probably shaking His head at me or chuckling!! I read in Isaiah today how God rejoices over me, and that meant so much to me but again I”m having a hard time. Now one thing I thought of during this time since hubby is home and waiting for a call, (paychecks would be nice), I really thought how this time might draw hubby and I closer, me learning how to keep my mouth shut, Christi, you would be proud, anyways I thought of that, we’ve actually been closer the last couple days, now I know I don’t think that at the same time He can use this, does that make sense? I know what I’m trying to say but can’t get it out right. Ok so I need lots of help and lots of prayer on waiting on God’s timing and that yes He will protect us and provide for us, yes I need lots of help, I have lots of doubt and lots of fear. I so want to be a better woman of God but think I failed in this area. I’m going to go into prayer again tonight, may be a short prayer again but at least prayer but is it wrong to tell God that I doubt and that I’m fearful? I know He knows it but is it right per say to tell Him that? Ok well reading time and prayer time. I’m going to go back to my daily reading today, well I hope it was today’s reading and find that scripture on how He rejoices over me, I know It was Isaiah 61 or something, if anyone knows it can you please let me know what it is? so again, great reading tonight on this, thank you!!!
Pat, I’m not sure of the passage in Isaiah, but I do know one very similar in Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quite you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Is it ok to tell God that you have doubts and are fearful? OF COURSE!! God is concerned with every detail of your life and WANTS to be in relationship with you. No relationship can be healthy without honest communication, right? You can be honest with God – you can say “God, I am scared out of my mind, and don’t know or see how you are going to rescue me. HELP ME!” You won’t offend him or make him angry with you. In fact, he loves it when we turn to him in our desperate times and asks for help. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God tells Paul (and us) “….My grace is sufficient (enough) for you, for MY POWER is made perfect in your weakness.” Basically, God is saying – “Watch me work!!”
I know it’s incredibly stressful when we don’t know how the bills are going to get paid, how the rent/mortgage will be taken care of, how food is going to get on the table. But he promised to take care of all that (read Matthew 6:25-34). So when you pray, ask God to help you believe in Him more, ask Him to help you see His plan and see how He is going to provide for you. I can’t tell you when or how it will happen, but God will provide for you both! God is still in the miracle business!
(By the way – by being afraid and doubtful you have not “failed” to be a better woman of God. That’s Satan lying to you. When you are a child of God, what he wants is your best effort. When you fall down or fall short, reach out for God’s hand. He’ll pull you back up. He loves you and he’s proud of you! You are by no means a failure!)
I’ll be praying for you, Pat! Keep trusting God, I know He’ll come through for you! <3