Are You Waiting Well?
Do you have anything for which you are hoping or that you are hoping to accomplish in the future? The waiting can be brutally difficult – particularly if you haven’t practiced waiting and built your capacity to wait. Waiting is not an American value. We want things … and we want them soon! However, Scripture indicates that waiting is one of the ways God builds faith and hope in our lives. “Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:25) Learning to wait patiently builds character and faith. Those who wait, hoping in the Lord will renew their strength. (Isaiah 40:31)
The challenge is not to lose heart while waiting. Sometimes waiting can take its toll on our emotions and bodies. It can even work deep despair into our souls. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” (Proverbs 13:12)
Zechariah was a priest two thousand years ago. He had been praying for a child, but his wife, Elizabeth, was barren – and they were past the childbearing years. The angel Gabriel was sent by God, however, to announce to Zechariah that his prayers were going to be answered, and they were going to have a son. Unfortunately, his faith appears to have waned through the years, and he found it difficult to believe the angel’s word. (Luke 1:5-22) Zechariah needed to be convinced of the validity of his own prayers. He had waited soooo long that he had stopped attentively watching, forgotten about his prayers and moved on. His prayers, though, were much bigger than he realized. They were tied to God’s plan for the whole world. Timings, governments, relationships, history, and prophesies were involved. Zechariah had no idea what God was doing in answer to his prayers.
Do you have anything for which you are waiting? Has your heart grown a little sick in the waiting? Maybe God is doing things about which you, like Zechariah, are clueless. This might be a good time for you to renew your hope in, and your waiting for, God. You can remain healthy of heart. You don’t need to resign yourself to the place where God will need to convince you of the validity of your prayers. His healing is at hand in Jesus. Turn from despair and simply tie your heart and your hope to the Lord. He has heard your prayers. He will do what is best, whether it is exactly that for which you asked or not. You can trust Him. He is good!
May your heart be lightened and renewed – even today – as you set your sights freshly on the God of time, geography, and people.
~ Coach Tom
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