Waiting

The Garden Gate – Vetheuil by Claude Monet

Waiting

Waiting! Yes, patiently waiting!
Till next steps made plain shall be;
To hear, with the inner hearing,
The Voice that will call for me.

Waiting! Yes, hopefully waiting!
With hope that need not grow dim;
The Master is pledged to guide me,
And my eyes are unto Him.

Waiting! Expectantly waiting!
Perhaps it may be today
The Master will quickly open
The gate to my future way.

Waiting! Yes, waiting! still waiting!
I know, though I’ve waited long,
That, while He withholds His purpose,
His waiting cannot be wrong.

Waiting! Yes, waiting! still waiting!
The Master will not be late:
He knoweth that I am waiting
For Him to unlatch the gate.

by J. Danson Smith

Psalms 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Waiting is one of the hardest things we have to do in life.  Waiting on the Lord for some specific indication of what we are supposed to do or where we are supposed to go or whom we are supposed to be with is probably even harder because often we have no idea what is ahead until “the last minute”, so to speak. 

Sometimes we need to be ready to go forward quickly and need to live in readiness of that.  Twice in my life I have started packing up because my family knew we were going to move but we didn’t know when.  Both times I was very thankful because when the door opened it opened suddenly and we would have been in serious trouble if we’d had all the packing to do at the last minute.

Other times, we need to just sit still and be patient.  I was 38 when I got married.  Waiting for the Lord’s time on that was hard – really hard at times.  But, looking back I don’t regret it at all.  I’m so very thankful for the husband that I have, and I would wait for him if I had it to do over and knowing what I know now.  This inactive waiting – in the sense of not going out and solving the situation for ourselves – can happen in many areas of life.

One thing that we sometimes miss in our waiting times is that we are supposed to serve the Lord while we wait.  Waiting doesn’t mean just sitting still and waiting for something to happen.  While we may sometimes be stuck in a situation where we can’t move forward in some area of life, we need to look around and see what God would have us to do while we’re “stuck” where we are.  I have regretted at times that I didn’t find more useful things to do while I was in “waiting” times of my own life.  Nothing is wasted with God.  If He seems to have left you in some spot, there is something you are supposed to be doing there.  If He hasn’t opened a door, there is something you still need to do on this side of it.  And, maybe, just maybe, that is the most important part in the bigger picture of what the Lord is doing.

Instead of feeling like we’re stuck in a waiting place and fretting over that, let’s look around and see what we can do for God while we’re there.  Let’s be about our Father’s business in the place where He has us right now.  We aren’t here by accident, friend.

Psalms 62:5  My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

Psalms 37:7-9  Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

Have you ever found something important that you needed to do while you were “waiting”?