Waiting For God Knows What
Sometimes we feel like we’re always in a cycle of waiting for something – doctor’s appointments, bathroom lines, finding the right job, finding the right person…. We all have areas in our lives where we are waiting for something to happen. All of us go through those periods, but in those moments we may begin to ask ourselves:
“What should I be doing differently?”
“Did I miss my chance?”
“Why is this happening to me?”
“Is there some kind of sin or shortcoming in my life that is keeping me from achieving what I desire?”
I think most of us handle waiting in one of two ways:
Dwelling on the Past
Some of us mourn over times when things were better. We can enter a dark place that feels like we’ll never see the bright side in things ever again. This often can lead to depression and a feeling that nothing good will happen ever again.
Anxiety About the Future
Some of us may take a different extreme and begin to become anxious – especially if what we’re waiting for has a correlation with our livelihood. Many of us become anxious when we have to wait for something for a really long time. At this point we begin to dwell too much on those questions that creep in our heads.
In these moments we forget how to recognize God. We forget what He’s done for us in the past. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 11:1-3:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
There are times in life when we are not going to see how a particular trial or circumstance is going to help us grow; or better yet, when that trial is finally going to come to an end. I’m reminded about how Job dealt with so much strife and loss, never really understanding the purpose of it while he was going through those trying times. Never knowing when things were finally going to get better. It’s the open-ended waits that are the hardest to deal with – the most frustrating. It is easy to get impatient with our waits. As we think about resolving our wait, the worst thing possible happens: The wait becomes interminable – incapable of ending.
The big question is: “How do I make it through my waiting period with enough patience that is healthy and that honors God?” But for many of us the question is: “How can I make this wait end quickly without messing things up?”
We must remember these periods of waiting are helping us grow. And that is a difficult lesson to learn in our instant gratification culture. The world of digital social media, fast food, and 2-day Amazon shipping conditions us to have a “gotta have it now” mentality.
I think now more than ever God is teaching us to just be present in our circumstances. Psalm 46 reminds us that God is our refuge in times of trouble, and that God is telling us to “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus reminds us that we are cared for daily, and worrying about what the future holds will not add a single hour to our lives.
As with all circumstances in our lives, everything comes to pass. God is still ever present in our times of need, even when it doesn’t seem like it. May God give His peace that goes beyond all understanding; and may we seek His Kingdom first above all else.