“And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but waitfor the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.” Acts 1:4 (KJV)
“For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” Galatians 5:5 (KJV)
I recently read a devotional booklet that dealt with how we look at success. The writer compared a sermonette of J. Hudson Taylor with various scriptures. In one section the author spoke on waiting.
“Things may not happen for us when we think they should, because we might be in the midst of a learning experience. Once repentance has taken place, or God sees us fit for duty, our mountaintop experiences may resume.”
“Sometimes, waiting--just waiting--is a form of His discipline, so that we can then ‘run and not be weary’ and ‘fly with wings like eagles’” (Isaiah 40:31). {1}
As I read and reread the second paragraph, I realized that I had not thought of the process of waiting in this light. I read this section to several of my local friends and asked them, “Have you thought about waiting like this? Not one of them had.
One of my closest friends and I talked about having to wait being a growth experience.
Have you ever had a time when you were waiting on an answer from the Lord and you felt your self drawn to Bible study and devotions more than usual? As we read and study we feel a deepening in our spirit. This growth empowers us to reach out more with our witness for the Lord.
The next day, the thought came to me that waiting does indeed provide learning experiences for us. The Lord provided learning experiences to the disciples all the time. Each of his parables provides a valuable lesson. In the first chapter of Acts, the resurrected Christ told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
When we pray for a need, God can give us one of three answers, yes, no, or wait. We understand and gladly accept the granting of our request. We might not care for it when He answers no. But do we really understand when God tells us to wait?
When He tells us to wait, He might need to point out a few things to us. Maybe we have some unconfessed sin in our hearts. We might not be where we are supposed to be spiritually and He knows we can’t handle the outcome if we would receive a positive answer.
When our son was quite small, he asked for toys for Christmas that he was too young for. My husband and I talked about it and decided to give him some more age-appropriate gifts. We had just moved into our house and thought he’d benefit from a child-sized table and chairs. He didn’t say anything when he opened his gifts on Christmas but he said something to his grandmother. Her reply was on target, “Maybe you are a little too young for the toys you asked for.” His birthday is two weeks later, so we couldn’t get them for him then. But one day the next fall, I came home from work and he showed me what Daddy had bought him. It was the toy he wanted the Christmas before. My Husband also told him that, at Christmas, we felt he was too young for it.
The toy is long gone. The child-sized table is sitting on our enclosed front porch, over 30 years later. Isn’t this a lot like things in our lives? We ask God for something, He eventually gives it to us and it gets broken or lost. But the things He chooses to give us when we are ready are the things that last.
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{1} "God,Am I Nobody" by Sheryl Young, Mountain View Publishing,div.of Treble Heart Books. Nov. 2011
Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.