WAITING

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope." Psalms 130:5

I don’t consider myself an impatient person. 
Actuallyyyyyyy who am I kidding? LOL. Truth be told, I can be quite impatient. Once I'm ready to go and you text me saying, give me 5mins? That’s it! I wanna fight and/or give up on the outing altogether. 

That’s the sad truth, but I thank the Holy Spirit for his constant work in me, refining and transforming me from the inside out. I still would rather not wait for anything, anyone, not even myself. This is why as the Holy Spirit extends more grace to me, I am extending that same grace to others and myself most importantly. It is a whole other issue when you are impatient with yourself- but I digress.

For the most part, what we tend to focus on is how to wait on God, instead of, how to simply wait. In my honest opinion, if you are not patient at the Starbucks line where you can actually see the barrister making your coffee in front of you, you would need even more grace to wait on a God whom you cannot see. A God who chooses most at times to work silently and behind the scenes.

My point is, pray for patience (a fruit of the spirit) to manifest in your life. Every aspect of it. 
Pray to be patient when dealing with that sales rep that stutters. Pray to be patient when dealing with that colleague or boss that keeps testing you. Pray to be patient with the microwave while you wait for your frozen dinner to warm up. Pray to be patient as you drive behind that driver going 45 on a 50. Pray to be patient with yourself as you take what seems like forever to master the art of being patient.

As you can see, the list goes on. Desire to be a patient person in general as you live your everyday life. That is where the work begins. You can't fail at this and expect to transform into a skilled waiter when waiting on God. It is not magic.

The world is a busy place no doubt, and life is so daily. It does not wait for anyone. Hence, we have been conditioned to always be in a hurry. We have been told time and time again that 'time waits for no man'. The saying 'the patient Dog gets the fattest bone' rarely appeals to anyone anymore. #ain'tnobodygattimeforthat. We want that fat bone now! 
Sigh.
We are always on the move. A successful day is measured by how many activities we are able to cram into 24hours, so we keep going as impatience and hurry rules us.

See where I am going with this? 

We have to slowly begin to shed some of these ways of thinking. We need to go back to scriptures and study the life of those who followed God. Yo, these people seemed to have lots of time on their hands with the way they waited on God. The most intriguing part is that most of them waited without murmuring! How? They waited in service. They waited in worship. They waited in total surrender. 

Has the concept of waiting changed between now and then? I don’t think so. I don’t think they waited ‘easily’ because they had time to waste. Or because their lives weren’t as busy or important as ours are now. It is easy to lie and tell ourselves that they waited 'easily' because life was a simpler time back then- they did not have credit card bills or rent to pay, they did not have student loans to pay off, etc.

Whether that is true or not, God’s expectations for us are still the same. The Lord did not tell the writers of the Bible to tone down waiting or take it out entirely because well, the times will change! Nah.

The underlying truth I have found as I study those who waited on God in the Bible is that, they trusted in Him who asked them to wait. Trust and obedience go together. He said wait, they trusted, so they obeyed. 

The good news is that the Holy Spirit can help you wait right! I used to try to impress God by acting like I was so chill and perfectly okay with waiting. I would keep faking it in the place of prayer, saying one thing while on the inside hoping He falls for my false bravado and accelerates the answering of my prayers. Of course, that never worked. I would end up so discouraged and frustrated, I would break down and accuse God of being uncaring and unfair to me.

It has been a process, but now, I am able to come clean and open, Lord, I know you have this figured out, I know you are working even if I cannot see it. Help me be still. Calm the raging storm inside me. Help me see you. Help me be more aware of your presence in and beside me in this wilderness. 

Go to your father in prayer and ask for help, but remember, It does not stop with prayer. Feed yourself with the word. Eat it as you do your favourite meal. Meditate on scriptures. Read up on those who waited and study them. Then ask yourself, did they ever get disappointed? Did they wait in vain?  Was any of them put to shame? Rather, didn’t they in fact instead see the glory? 

Encourage yourself in the Lord. 

Sure, listen to the motivational speakers if you like, let your friends ginger you if you like. There is nothing wrong with that, BUT, do not let any other source of encouragement replace the word of God. The word of God is living and it is active. The work it does in your spirit cannot be compared to the little flicker of hope you get from a motivational speech or quote.



To be continued... 



Related Scriptures: 
Jeremiah 17:7-8, James 5:7-8, Psalms 33: 20, Psalms 27:14, Micah 7:7, Psalms 37:7, Isaiah 30:18, Psalms 25:5, Lamentations 3:24-26 and Psalm 62:5


Song suggestions: 
Know (Be still)- Jeremy Riddle, Promises- Maverick City, Praise before my breakthrough- Byan & Kathy Towalt, Do it again- Elevation worship, Peace be Still- Lauren Daigle