“Most people don’t wait long enough on me.” –God
Wow! How accurate is that sentence?
We’ll admit it; A lot of us here are impatient. We hate long lines, we dread traffic, we get frustrated when God says “no,” but we really feel pained when he says “not yet!”
For some reason, hearing “not yet” hurts more than hearing “no.” We think it’s because, when God says “not yet,” we know the good thing is coming, but we don’t know when. We become so focused on counting down until God says “the time has come.” Sometimes, however, we can miss the present moments, by anxiously awaiting that good thing we are expecting in our future.
We don’t soak in all the lessons, all the growth, all the experiences during our wait.
What does it mean to wait well — and then how do we even do it?
Waiting well means accepting God’s “not now.” No attitude, no sighing and then saying “okay, I trust you”—pretty sure we’re all guilty of that—but we have to realize His “not now,” doesn’t mean that He has said “no,” or forgotten.
Often God’s “not now” is the best thing for us, because we’re not ready for the next thing.
…whether that be a relationship, a new job, a baby, etc. God knows there is a level of growth that happens in our wait. I’d been praying and asking God to open up doors for a new career opportunity for me because I wasn’t happy in my current position at the time. A friend told me about an opportunity, and it sounded GREAT. The only thing was it was going to be a further drive and less pay for me to make the transition.
I was so desperate to get out of the current situation that I was willing to settle in areas that were important to me.
One of the biggest lessons I learned during that situation was God doesn’t want us to settle. God wants to give us more than we can hope, think, or even imagine.
A year went by, and another opportunity was presented to me, except this opportunity offered more pay, the drive wasn’t nearly as far, and it was the opportunity that I had been praying for all along.
God’s “not now” was His way of getting me to wait for His BEST.
I won’t lie and say I had the best attitude during those twelve months of waiting. I was frustrated and wondering what God was up to, but God was using that time to stretch me in areas that helped prepare me for my new opportunity.
Don’t rush the waiting period; it’s all for your good.
Another area in my life that God has called me to wait on is having a significant other. I’ve spent so much time praying for and about the person I want God to bring into my life that I forget about how perfect God’s timing is. We are all a work in progress, and just like God is calling us to wait, he’s inviting others to wait too. All of our lives are relative to one another’s, and that’s why we have to trust God’s timing, and not our own.
If Elizabeth and Zechariah would have had John the Baptist any earlier, do you think his impact on preparing the way for Jesus would have been as great? No way!
God was using their lives to show others that nothing is impossible for him.
It didn’t matter how old they were; God’s timing was perfect! During their season of “not now,” God was in the process of orchestrating an even bigger plan: Jesus’ birth.
Everything had to line up for His master plan to come to fruition, and it’s the same for our lives as well. After all, we are all his children, and He already has the blueprints of our lives drawn up. It’s up to us to let Him do the work and in His perfect timing.
Tips for waiting well with the right attitude:
1. Pray and ask God to help you wait well.
2. Reflect on areas of your life where you need to grow and be stretched beyond your comfort zone.
3. Trust God’s “not now” by remembering other seasons of waiting that ended with God giving you more than you prayed for.
4. Remember that God is in the wait with you. Listen for His voice and direction.
