I recently accompanied my grandmother-in-law to an Insurance Company to renew her car policy because she was unable to do it online. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, only a few persons were allowed on the inside at any given time and the waiting line on the outside was very long. A tent was provided on the outside to shield persons from the blazing sun but it could only host nine persons at a time, leaving the rest of us to bear the sun’s scorching rays. As we waited, a man started to complain about the long wait and soon others joined in. Though some didn’t complain, through their body language, it was evident that they were uncomfortable because some were tapping their feet impatiently and others were constantly hissing their teeth and sighing. After a while, some people began to leave.
As I observed, I began to think about the attitude we put on as we wait on the Lord for our deliverance and breakthrough. We live in a fast paced world, where everything is instant and so waiting is not ideal. Admittedly, waiting, especially for an extended period of time, isn’t usually enjoyable and oftentimes when we wait, it is on someone else to do something that we need. Here lies an issue because as humans, we love to take matters into our own hands and work according to our own time. Throughout the Scriptures however, we are encouraged to wait on the Lord and how we wait can indicate how we really see God.
Things to avoid while waiting
1. Do not complain. “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” (Phillipians 2:10) Sometimes as we wait on God, we can be tempted to complain about everything that could be going wrong or about the opportunities lost while we wait. When we complain, we allow what we are going through and feeling to become our focus, rather than God and what He is trying to teach us through the waiting process. Also, what comes out of our mouths is a reflection of what lies in our hearts and when we complain, it indicates to us that our attitude toward God is irreverent in that moment.
As we wait on the Lord, we ought to offer our praise to Him. The psalmist said “But I will keep on hoping for your help; I will praise you more and more.” (Psalm 71:14) Praising God redirects our focus to Him and feeds our determination to remain steadfast as we hope and wait for His deliverance.
2. Do not be passive. Sometimes we believe that when God asks us to wait it means that we sit down and do nothing. On the contrary, our seasons of wait offers the opportunity to develop and grow spiritually. As we wait, we can spend time in God's Word and reflect upon His promises and faithfulness. This allows us to focus on God rather than our circumstances and the burden of our wait. "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word, I put my hope." (Psalm 130:5)
As we wait, we can reflect on the goodness of God and how He delivered us in the past. This helps to build our confidence because we will be reminded that He's the same God who delivered us in the past and is able to do it again.
3. Do not compare. God is Sovereign and isn't restricted to time. He knows our end from our beginning and what we need to go through to perfect us and conform us to His will. His way of doing this is different for each person and when we compare our journey with others and the way and time in which He delivers our brothers and sisters compared to us, it causes us to lose our joy and start doubting the Lord.
When we feed our doubts we begin to lean on our own understanding rather than God’s and this prevents us from clearly hearing God and discerning where He is leading us. We must be honest with ourselves about our weaknesses and surrender them to God, and once we do, we will find that it is in surrendering that we are strengthened.
Waiting patiently on the Lord depicts our confidence in Him. Though we know not when our answer will come, because we know who God is, we can trust that His plans for us are good and certainly better than our plans for ourselves. We must be steadfast in our prayer, praise and studying of the Word so that when doubts arise, we will be reminded of the promises of God.
“Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)