Here is a lesson I have been studying about being called to wait- read it, over and over, let God speak to you through it and trust in Him in your time of waiting.
SPIRITUAL MUSCLES
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" Psalm 27:14
Waiting for the Lord isn't about God forgetting you, forsaking you, or being unfaithful to his promises. It's actually God giving you time to consider his glory and to grow stronger in faith. Remember, waiting isn't just about what you are hoping for at the end of the wait, but also about what you will become as you wait.
It's so easy to question our beliefs when we are not sure what exactly God is doing. It's so easy to give way to doubt and to forsake good habits and to take up habits of unfaith that weaken the muscles of our hearts.
Giving way to doubt. When you are called to wait, you are being called to do something that wasn't part of your plan and is therefore something that you struggle to see as good. Because we are convinced that what we want is right and good, it doesn't seem loving that we are being asked to wait. So you can see how tempting it is then to begin to consider questions of Gods wisdom, goodness, and love.
Giving way to anger. It's so easy to look around and begin to think that the bad guys are being bless and the good guys are getting hammered (I'm so guilty of this). There are times when it simply doesn't seem right that you have to wait for something that seems so obviously good to you. Because of this, it's important to understand that the anger you feel in these moments is more than anger with the people or circumstances that are the visible cause for your waiting. No, your anger is actually anger with the One who is in control of those people and those circumstances. You are actually giving way to thinking that you have been wronged by him.
Giving way to discouragement. This is where we let our hearts run away with the idea that "If only..." or "What if...". This kind of meditation makes us feel that our life is out of control. Rather than our heart being filled with joy, our hearts get flooded with worry and dread. Free mental time is spent considering our dark future, with all the resulting discouragement that will always follow.
Giving way to envy. It's so tempting to look over the fence and wish for the life of someone who doesn't appear to have been called to wait. You can't give way to envy without questioning God's wisdom and love. Envy is about feeling forgotten and forsaken, coupled with a craving to have what your neighbor enjoys.
Giving way to inactivity. The result of giving way to all of these things is inactivity. If God isn't as good and wise as I once thought he was, if he withholds good things from his children, and if he plays favorites, then why would we continue to pursue him? Maybe all those habits of faith aren't helping us after all; maybe we've just been kidding ourselves. Sadly, this is the course many people take. Rather than growing in their faith, their motivation for spiritual exercise is destroyed by all of this things.
Always, always, always remember that God's timing is perfect and his focus isn't so much what we will experience, but on what we will become as we wait. God is committed to using every tool at his disposal to rescue us from ourselves and to shape us into the likeness of his Son. The fact is that waiting is one of his primary shaping tools.
Think about it...
- Where right now is God calling you to wait?
- Which habits of unfaith are most tempting to you? What is God calling you to do to resist these temptations by his grace?
