In a slightly embarrassing turn of events I set out to write a blog post I'd already written once before...And after reading it I realized that there was very little to add to it except a few things I'll say now and in brackets throughout the orginial post. In the six months since I wrote the below post nothing much has changed. There's been one positive answer to prayer (closer Christian friends and more accountability), a negative answer (Christian gamer's group) and the other two still stand: wife and church. By that I mean the provision of a wife (which would initially mean girlfriend unless I go mail order) and that my church would be blessed both in terms of more people coming in and a sound financial footing. In fact, the two things I'm still waiting for have suffered setbacks. The church because we're really hard up now and the building we rent is getting sold and I've widened the prayer to include the Reformed church at large in the Uk and that's in a terribly low state. Anyway, the point being is that waiting has not got any easier. And I've not got any better at it. The same impatience, frustration and trust issues are still there. So it was good to read what I once wrote and be reminded that a) I'm a hypocrit and b) What waiting on God should look like. So without further ado here's the orginial post: Life involves waiting. I’m so cool that I’m waiting for the second part of the Doctor Who finale on Saturday (quite good actually), I’m waiting to travel to Russia next week on Friday (my trip to Russia ended up being incredible), on a broader scale I’m waiting to finish university (still not there) and get a job (or here), I’m waiting for the day when I’m declared Emperor of the World (getting there). I’m waiting for my next pay cheque to come in (don't knoe why I included this here), I’m waiting for the advert on Spotify to go away, I’m waiting for a lot of things.
I imagine I’m not alone in this. You’re probably waiting for something as well, waiting with baited breath and a thudding heart for this post to go up...or not. The point is that waiting is a common and universal experience. And most of us hate it. This is never more applicable when it comes to spiritual matters. I’ve been waiting for three or four prayers to be answered for the past six months or so. You hear stories of people who had to wait forty years before their prayers were answered. If you turn to the Bible then you’’ find story after story about waiting. Jesus waited thirty years before he began his ministry, Moses had to wait until he was 80 before he was appointed leader of the Israelites and Noah had to wait as much as a century for the flood to come. So the first thing to note about waiting is that it is a perfectly normal experience. The question is though: if God loves us why do we have to wait? How should we wait? Waiting teaches us patience We live in a culture of instant gratification, the type of culture that says not wait until your married before you have sex have it now. The type of culture that is all about short term pleasure and instant gain even at the expense of long term loss. Our culture is always buy now and pay later. Naturally this runs in the completely opposite direction to biblical teaching. Patience, that is the ability to wait without growing angry, is a virtue. In fact, patience is nearly always coupled with the other virtue of perseverance. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1 v 2 – 4 Waiting on God is often difficult it is a test of faith but like all tests we come out of it better than before. Waiting is learning patience the hard way. I think it’s safe to say that we all need to learn the hard way when it comes to patience. The challenge lies in the very first few words ‘consider it pure joy’. Speaking as someone waiting on the Lord I’ve experienced a range of emotions; pure joy was not one of them. Impatience, yes, anger, yes, annoyance, yes, resigned acceptance, yes but never pure joy. “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.” James 5 v 7 – 8 This passage a few chapters later reinforces the biblical teaching on patience – it is a necessity of the Christian life. Patience is rewarded “As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5 v 11 If you do persevere you are blessed. In the Book of Job we read about the trails and suffering Job had to face. He had to wait quite some time before God spoke to him. But after waiting he was blessed and ended up richer than before. “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30 v 18 Once again we have the exact same truth expounded. Waiting, patience and perseverance all lead to blessing. Waiting is hard but God is with us “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40 v 31 Taken alone this verse is of great hope and comfort but notice the connection between waiting on the Lord and soaring on wings of eagles. To soar we must wait. From my own personal experience I know some of this true, the spiritual high points in my life have generally been when I was waiting on the Lord with the right mind set. How should we wait? So we know that waiting on God will result in blessing and that God is with us when we wait on him. But how should we wait? The answer to the question lies in what it means to be patience. Patience is more than just waiting. It is our attitude to waiting. After all, we all have to wait on things but we aren’t all patient about it. Patience is our mindset to waiting. And patience is tied up with that major Christian virtue of Faith. If we have faith, if we trust in the promises of God’s Word, if we truly believe in the perfection of God’s sovereignty over all things then we’ll be patient while waiting on God. To be anything else would be in rebellion against God’s plan for our life. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8 v 28 Patience is realising that we don’t know what is best for ourselves. God does. Therefore we wait on him without anger, frustration or irritation instead trusting God and being hopefully expectant that when the time is right our prayer will be answered. (Waiting and trust go hand in hand. To wait on God is to trust in him and his promises, power and compassion. It is not until we have to wait that we realize how little we trust God.) Final thoughts “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27 v 14 (interestingly I stumbled across this verse accidentially the other day and found it hugely uplifting) Waiting on God is hard. But the encouragement the Bible gives are many. We must strive to always remember that those who wait on the Lord are blessed, that waiting is teaching us perseverance and that we must wait fully trusting in the Lord. To end here is Paul’s prayer for believers: “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” Colossians 1 v 9 - 11 (I can honestly say that God has never let me down despite the number of times I think he has. In hindset we can see the neccessity of our periods of waiting. And let's not forget that waiting makes us apprecaite blessings all the more. Indeed, a key cure for resentful waiting is to count the blessings God has given you. Waiting, trust, patience and prayer all go hand in hand together. All of them are hard. We're all rubbish at all of them. But remember: Blessed are all those who wait on him)
1 Comment
Joshua Hainey
14/1/2011 12:25:03 pm
Thank you. This was very encouraging to a pastor who has been waiting on the promises of God.
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