While You Wait

“I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised.”

(Psalm 130:5 TLB)

Waiting is a tough gig. We’re all very impatient especially when we feel a pressing physical need or the need to know something. I was never good at waiting as a child. I guess it’s like father like daughters because our girls were never good at lengthy waits either; especially if they were waiting for something I had promised to give them. They were waiting, but they were also expecting it to happen.

The Psalmist said he would wait patiently for the Lord. God wants us to wait patiently for Him to answer our prayers, but He also wants us to wait expectantly. Have faith. Trust God to hear and to answer. When we wait expectantly, we show God that we believe his promises; that we believe he’s going to keep his word.

Daniel Boone, the famous frontiersman, was once asked, “Have you ever gotten lost in the wilderness?” He said, “No, I’ve never been lost. I’ve been bewildered for weeks at a time, but I’ve never been lost.”

Some of us may feel bewildered right now. You’re bewildered about your marriage: “I’m praying for it to get better, but it’s not getting any better.” You’re bewildered about your career: “Do I go up, down, change jobs?” You’re bewildered about relationships. We may feel powerless and hopeless and can’t do anything to change our situation on our own. We’re bewildered.

Don’t be discouraged! Don’t give up! Look up. Turn to prayer. I have had many, many requests in my life that I’ve prayed to God that have never been answered. I can think of several prayers that I have prayed that it haven’t been answered. I don’t know why God hasn’t chosen to answer those prayers, and I don’t understand it. But I have decided this: Whether or not God ever answers those prayers, I am going to die believing his promises. Because God is a good God, and he knows what’s best, even when I don’t understand it all.

When God doesn’t answer our prayers, we need to remember some very important truths:

First – God is in control, and we’re not. He knows better what we need than we do (Isaiah 55:11). There is no mountain too tall that he can’t move it. There is no problem so big that he can’t solve it. There is no sorrow so deep he cannot soothe it. God is in control, and he has a plan.

Secondly – Recall often how God has been faithful to us in the past. The psalmists did this constantly in many of their writings. They didn’t understand what God was up to at the moment, but recalled that He had done amazing things in the past, that He was good and was able to take care of business in His way and from His perspective as He saw fit.

Thirdly – Remember that whether or not we ever receive our answer (particularly the one we want or think we should have) , God will honor our patience. We may not see the answer we want in this world but then in eternity we’ll have all the answers, be able to look back and fully understand things from God’s point of view. So, in our present situation and circumstance let faith arise and every doubt be scattered as we recognize that we are on His mind, in His heart, and held by His hands.

“I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised” (Psalm 130:5 TLB).

Mmmmm … think about it!!

Pastor Colin