To Encourage You

Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I hope”

Are you good at waiting for things?  For example, how often have you heard, or thought, “I just can’t wait for this weather to change.”  So often in life we find ourselves in positions of waiting, and more often than not, we probably don’t like it much.  Maybe we’re waiting for the results of some medical test we’ve had, we’re waiting for a loan to go through, we’re looking forward to a vacation, or we’re really looking forward to some hunting or fishing season.  So much of life involves waiting.  And do you know that the same holds true for our relationship with the Lord? 

Often, we are commanded in Scripture to wait for Him.  So often in life we find ourselves in situations that are other than we’d like them to be, or we know of loved ones that are going through difficult things, and we hurt for them. We want things to be different for them.  We are so limited in our perspective, and we get anxious for things, whatever they might be, to change.  Yet, the Bible says that our lives are like “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes (James 4:14).”  And the longer we live and gain the perspective of looking back over our lives we so often agree with this with such statements as “Where has the time gone?” or “My how time flies!” 

In all of this we should take note that God is in control of time.  He has an eternal perspective of everything, and He is in sovereign control.  But He knows we aren’t like Him.  Our perspective is so temporary in comparison to His.  So often He must tell us to wait, to endure, to not get weary in well doing, or to keep praying, keep knocking, and keep asking when what we are praying for or seeking just seems so remote to us. What we so often don’t see is God’s hand at work during these waiting periods.  What we don’t understand is that if God would act to change our circumstances before the time was right from His perfect perspective, things would not go as well for us as He has ordained.  So often as we pray, pray, and pray some more, God is working to change us rather than our situation, for that is the most necessary thing, and changing hearts takes time – often, a lot of time. 

In all of this God would have us to trust Him, and to learn from those who have waited in the past.  He wants us to gain the perspective of King David, who wrote these wonderful words in Psalm 5:3: “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”  This is the way God would have us to wait on Him – expectantly, with patience, rather than pessimistically, with impatience.   God has promised those who love Him that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).  All things, not some things. That means things we need to wait for, things we need to endure, things we wish would change right now, but that don’t, and that haven’t for far too long from our perspective. 

But that’s just it; we can only see things from our perspective. It takes faith to trust that things seen from God’s perspective are better, for the God on Whom we wait, sees things perfectly, including all things that make up our lives.  God brought each one of us into this world in His time. All our days were written down by Him before even one of them had begun (Psalm 139:16). And for those who have trusted in Him, we are waiting for the wonders of being glorified, a thing as certain to God as if it had already happened, as we see in these wonderful words: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). And then this from verse 18 of this same chapter in Romans: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Oh, what wonderful things God has in store for those who will but wait for Him!