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Waiting.
It is so hard to do.
I’ve always had patience- I could do a 2500 piece puzzle and enjoy the time and effort that went into it. I used to love cross-stitching elaborate, intricate pictures. I love long term projects because of the delayed gratification in seeing them go from nothing to something.
However, waiting requires a different type of patience.
It requires that I rely on someone else to do something. It means I have to watch for what seems like forever while something out of my control happens.
Several years ago, it meant waiting for a Category 5 hurricane to decide where it was going to finally make landfall… and then wait another 24 hours to begin feeling its effects.
It meant waiting in our home until morning with my immediate family and some of my extended family to see what if any damage was left behind after the storm blew past us.
It meant waiting for our electricity to come back on so that life could start moving in a more normal direction.
Waiting requires us to stay put as circumstances beyond our control spiral out of control around us. As believers in Christ, it requires trust that God is in control of the circumstances and that he has our best interest in mind.
Psalm 46:10- Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
For someone like me who always needs to act when something needs to be done, who doesn’t sit still very well, it’s hard to always be still. I know that God holds the reigns, but I often want to take them from Him. Instead of just sitting back and watching Him act, I want to jump in and do. I want to “help” as much as I can… which doesn’t usually help at all. In fact, my help usually backfires.
Like in Sarah’s situation. She was having a hard time waiting. God had promise her a son, but nothing had happened, and she was couldn’t wait any longer. She took the reins, gave her servant to her husband, and had a son by surrogacy by means of her own doing. The result? Family discord that has lasted thousands of years.
However, when she finally did have the promised son, it happened in a way that could only bring glory to God and exalt His name among not only her own people but among the heathen nations they would encounter during their travels.
Being still is hard, but when we are, ultimately the name of the Lord is glorified.
What are you waiting for in your life? Consider memorizing Psalm 46:10 this week as you learn to wait with patience.
