Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The Gift of Waiting


"Did you know, there were 500 people, at least, that were told by Jesus to wait until the promised Holy Spirit came? But as we read in Acts, there were 120 people there. Which means that 380 people thought there was something else better to do than to wait on God. It also means the majority didn't want to wait." -William McDowell | Don't Mind Waiting

Waiting is hard. It just is. Whether it's waiting for your food to come out at a restaurant, or waiting for God to fulfill His promises to you. Waiting is H A R D.

Waiting is hard because it teaches you. It stretches you. It prepares you. It molds you. It humbles you. Waiting is hard, but waiting gives you character. Waiting gives you confidence and hope in the Lord. Waiting reminds you of God's ability and your inability. Waiting offers you rest as you learn to surrender your timeframe to God and let Him work as He pleases.

From this time last year up until this very day, I have been waiting, and it has been far from easy. Last June, I was waiting for a summer job. Last August, I was waiting on senior year to start. Last November, I was waiting on God to reveal to me what I would be doing after college. This past semester, I was waiting on graduation. Currently, I'm waiting to go back to Ghana. I could go on, but I think you get it.

And through all of this waiting, God constantly reminds me to wait well. However, that's a challenge I face daily. There have been numerous occasions where I have thrown temper tantrums, cried, been angry, annoyed, irritated, and just plain selfish and impatient with the Lord. Especially when it comes to waiting on my return to Ghana. How does God give me such a great desire in my heart, and then hold it out of reach from me? It feels like some kind of cruel joke.

But what I know is that my God is not a cruel God. He does not make me wait because He likes to see me angry. He does not make me wait because He wants me to suffer. He does not make me wait because He wants to withhold good things from me.

No, He makes me wait because He cares. He makes me wait because He loves me. He makes me wait because He is teaching me that He is enough. He makes me wait to show me that even in times of desiring more of what He has for me, my ultimate desire should be Him and Him alone.

And while I am reminded of these things, and humbled to the point of repentance for desiring the things of God more than God Himself, He still lets me wait and offers me hope and expectancy for the things to come. He gives me the grace to wait, the strength to hold on. He reminds me that He alone can satisfy me, but He still continues to give me blessings along the way. He alone gives me joy, but He graciously chooses to fulfill the desires that He has placed in my heart.

He not only makes me wait, but He has graced me with the gift of waiting.

You see, waiting is a choice. It always is. We can choose to wait on God to answer our prayers, or we can choose to go and get what we think God owes us. We can choose to wait on God's direction for our lives, or we can go our own way and follow what we want for ourselves. We can choose to wait for God to make a way, or we can impatiently make our own way. We can choose to trust and believe that God has purpose in our waiting, or we can choose to skip the waiting process and miss out of the blessings that come along with waiting. 

Even the disciples had to wait. Before they could go into the world and preach the Gospel, they had to wait. There were things Jesus had for them that they would not have received had they not waited.

"And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out, two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff– no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts– but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics. Also, He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" So they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them." -Mark 6:7-13

Before the disciples could be sent out to do the work of the Lord, they had to come to Jesus and hear what He had to say. They couldn't just go. They had to wait until He sent them.

Why? Because as they waited, they received.

They received instruction.
Jesus had specific instructions for them to follow. Had they have just gone on their own, they would not have received those instructions. These instructions were beneficial to not only them, but those they would be reaching as well. Had they chosen not to wait and to just go, the lack of instruction would have probably caused damage to themselves and others.

They received power.
Jesus also gave them power. Had they have decided to just go without first coming to Jesus and waiting on Him, they would have been ineffective. He has to equip us. It is imperative. We only have power in Him. We need to be equipped by Him so that we can do work for Him. In our own power, all will fail. If we don't wait so that we can receive His power, we can do nothing for the Kingdom.

They received His mission.
It is not that God wants to punish us by making us wait, it is that He has a mission that needs to be accomplished. He has to give us His agenda– we can't just go and do our own thing in our own timing. He has specific instructions for us to receive from Him, and He wants us to get those instructions so that His will is fulfilled and not our own. We are here to build His Kingdom, period. Therefore, we must be patient and wait for Him to reveal to us what His mission is before we go.


It is in times of waiting that we receive from the Lord. Just like the disciples, during your time of waiting, God is instructing, empowering, and leading you. Waiting is a gift. There is much to be received while you wait.

There is a reason for your waiting. Do not be impatient. Rejoice, for the time is coming, though it is not now.


"Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come. It will not tarry." -Habakkuk 2:3


God bless ♥︎
Elisha