"From Faith to Faith" with Tessa - Wait on God and Trust in Him!

"Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts."  - Elisabeth Elliot

Waiting can be one of the most difficult things to do in life. It takes patience and a certain amount of confidence to do so. And, to be honest, some of us are just better at waiting than others. 

A person can do a lot of waiting during their lifetime; and most of it without really thinking about it. For example, we wait in line, we wait in traffic, we wait for this person, or that person, etc. The point is, we spend a lot of time waiting.

Still, there is one reason for waiting that stands out among all the others. And that, is waiting on God. Many fail miserably at this because they don't understand why we must do so. 

More and more, we have become a society fixated on instant gratification. We want it now, and if this isn't possible, then we lose patience, then interest, and finally, we move on. However, God doesn't work within the same parameters as us.

We must not forget that He doesn't follow our finite, temporal timeframe (2 Peter 3:8). You've probably heard that God has all of the time in the world. Well, He really does, and then some! 

In actuality, waiting for God is a "good" thing. What we might see as a slow response might be a lesson in patience. After all, God is patient with us, and at the very least, we in should be patient with him, too (Isaiah 40:31).

It may be that God has different plans for us than what we had planned on. We've all made hasty decisions in our lives that might have turned out differently if only we had waited the hear from God (Proverbs 16:9).

Believe it or not, waiting on God helps us to grow and mature as Christians. Look at Lamentations 3:25-26: "The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." 

I've used this particular verse to help point out the importance of waiting for God. Notice that I've also underlined some key words therein. Let's take a closer look at them below: 

• First, there is hope. Hope, that we receive from Him, provides us with confidence, joy, peace, power and love (Romans 12:12).
• By our continuing to seek God, our desire to know Him increases. This then, is the essence of true and  eternal life (Hebrews 11:6). 
• When we wait on God, we learn how to develop and apply a patient, confident trust in the Lord. This, even in the midst of trials and troubles, whatever they might be (Psalm 62:5).
• The last item is the most important of all, our salvation. This is referring to our eternal, spiritual deliverance which can only be gained through the acceptance by faith of God's conditions of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

Abraham waited 25 years before God's promise of a child, Isaac came to fruition. It took 13 years for Joseph to gain his freedom and acquire a throne. It was a long 80 years before Moses reached his full potential for God.

It's clear that waiting for God is never intended to be a lesson in frustration. One thing is for certain, however, God will never disappoint you if you "be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:14)

Scripture: Psalm 38:15; Isaiah 33:2; James 1:12; Galatians 5:5; Isaiah 25:9

Prayer: "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."  - Psalm 25:5

Grace and blessings,

Tessa