The Waiting Game

I hate to wait! If I set up a meeting with an individual and then that person decides to be fashionably late, it drives me nuts! I start our church services on time even though many will come after it begins. If I go to a restaurant and can’t be seated immediately, I am out of there. If the lines are too long at the supermarket, I will abandon my shopping for another time. If I am stuck in traffic, I will literally turn off the main road and try to navigate my way, without a GPS, to get to my destination just so I can keep moving. Standing still and being in a holding pattern was not the way God wired me. And yet still, He bids me to wait on Him and to be still and to cease striving so that I can know undeniably that He is God.
They that wait on the Lord! Those words are in the Bible and I cry out to God, “Are you serious? What is so holy about waiting?” And then I realize that waiting is not a passive behavior at all. Waiting on God literally means that instead of manipulating the circumstances, or attempting to pull the right strings or make important phone calls to key people or force open doors just so that my will can be done – I am content to look to God for the divine signs and supernatural signals before I proceed. Like the angels in heaven I have my eyes so fixed on my Heavenly Father that the moment he beckons me I am in total tune with his desires. This exercises my faith to allow God access to make the first move. Waiting on God keeps me from just getting sidetracked and suffocated by nothing more than spiritual busy work that has some temporary value but no eternal impact.
A common practice among Christians these days is to stamp God’s name on plans and actions that quite frankly; he wants nothing to do with! We light our own fires and claim that God has set this situation ablaze. We do what we want to do and then tack on what I refer to as “The God Card!” God actually tells us to be quiet in his presence so that we can truly hear his voice above all the other noise. Sometimes church can be the noisiest place in town. Our volume may be turned up so high that there is no chance for any of us to hear God’s whisper. We just don’t like waiting on God so if he doesn’t get it done within our imposed time frame, we panic and don’t pray. We believe that if Jesus is satisfied to dilly-dally around, we make the executive errant decision to do it on our own. And there lies the biggest flaw in our walk with Jesus! This relationship is not just us doing the blabbing and Jesus being quiet before us. It is absolutely more the opposite!
The hardest periods of my life have been when God appears to be silent. Add silence to my list of impatience as qualities and characteristics that just don’t come easy to me. I want to be active. I want to march. I want to run. I want to move. And honestly, I want to do it for God! But the discipline of “waiting” ensures that we are also living our days with God. I know that there is a temptation to be so passionate and radical in our faith that we just can’t wait to get out of the boat and start walking on the water but this is not the way to go about it. Peter didn’t just impulsively decide to do some water walking that night he and the disciples saw Jesus strolling upon the waves. Peter asked Jesus to call him out of the boat. Peter waited for the invitation before he made his move. Without a clear calling of God, all we are doing with our behavior is taking matters into our own hands. And the best place to be is in the grip of God’s amazing grace no matter where the place we may be.
Maybe the prayer that I just prayed in my journal is the cry of your soul today!
“Dear God, please bid me to come. I want to wait on you and serve you no matter what may be on the menu. Forgive me Lord for having ants in my pants when it comes to jumping the gun of ministry. It is not holy to break down the doors that you in your sovereign wisdom have locked. I confess that my mind wanders and my attention span is limited. I recognize Jesus that you are in the silence. You speak when I am willing and ready to listen. You unveil your will when I am ready to abandon my own agenda. Make it my goal to yearn for the Planner over the plans. Let me hunger and thirst for your company! Let me sense when I am running ahead of you God or lagging way behind. Use me Lord! I want you to cleanse me so that I may be an instrument of your power. I make room in my heart to wait on you. I am plugging in to heaven’s energy source. Empower me to be content to follow you step by step as you are the Leader, the Master, the Creator, the Designer, the Author and the Finisher of my faith! If I am in doubt of your authorization, I won’t proceed. But when you give me the green light, may I fire up and run this race in a pace of being a blaze that brings glory to you alone. In your holy name I ask… Amen!”