The Four Letter Word I Hate

The one I am talking about starts with a w and ends with a t...

W-A-I-T

I have told more than one friend that I think "wait" is the Christian's hardest four letter word. I am not a naturally patient person, preferring instead to be in control, to be making it happen, (or better yet, sit back and enjoy having someone else do it for me! ;).

Yet here I am, in a season of waiting.  Waiting for the chapter to close on mom's journey through cancer.  Waiting to start a new job.  Waiting for my cousin to be healed from years of chronic, serious health problems.  Waiting to see the Lord fulfill my desire to build a family of my own.  Waiting for the Lord to allow me to use my biblical counseling training.  Waiting to meet my Savior face to face.  Waiting on so many good things.  

There are a number of options that exist for this waiter.  (And yes, I know I am using that word in the wrong context.  Humor me please!)

Option #1.  W-O-R-R-Y 

This option comes naturally.  I am pretty positive it's been programmed into the chromosomes of my DNA.  My mom tells me I have a talent for making unhelpful "declarations" about the future such as "This will never happen!"; "What if____?"; etc.  Honestly, this is the zone I have often hung out in.  It's also the zone I am learning to identify as sin that needs be mortified.

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own." ~Matthew 6:34 (NASB).  

That's a Scriptural command.  As a believer in Christ, I need to take it seriously and not brush off my sin of worrying lightly.  I need to confess and repent and leave tomorrow alone.

Option #2.  Act Like Waiting Doesn't Exist (When It Does)

In a certain sense, I believe a wise woman doesn't put her life on hold, choosing instead to redeem each moment the Good Lord gives her.  She won't just sit on her tail in a coffee shop Instagramming a picture of her favorite latte.  She'll reach across the table in that coffee shop and speak into the life of the human being sitting across from her.  She'll seek to get out of herself and into the life of someone else.

Yet I truly believe it's possible to be busy about the Lord's business while also acknowledging there are major things you are waiting on Him to accomplish that really only He can do.  

• At the end of the day, only God can heal.
• At the end of the day, only God can open doors for ministry.  
• At the end of the day, only God can bring a godly husband.
• At the end of the day, only God can bless a womb with children. 
• At the end of the day, only God can open eyes to the Gospel. 
• At the end of the day, only God.

Honestly, it can sometimes feel like a weakness to be forced to wait for things outside of our control.  The temptation can be then to try to make ourselves feel better by bluffing that we aren't really waiting.  We're just fine. We're cool with the status quo. 

But deep down inside, we know the truth.  We are waiting on things we cannot control.  

Option #3. Wait Well.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him." ~Lamentations 3:25 (NASB). 

I wrote in the margin of my Bible, next to this verse, "Statement of Fact!"  God is good to those who wait for Him.  Fact.  To the person who seeks Him.  Fact.

I want God to be good to me; my guess is you do too.  Are you waiting on Him?  Are you seeking Him?  If the answer is "yes," then you will know His goodness.  That goodness may eventually look like healing, a baby, a husband, a job, a new house, a repentant prodigal.  It may look like peace to walk through another day of ongoing pain, infertility, singleness, unemployment, or a strained relationship with an otherworldly grace, (because, let's face it, the world doesn't have what we have to fight the hard).  Either way, we experience good as we experience the nearness of God...

Psalm 73:28, "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works." (NASB) 

One day, our waiting will end.  We'll be with our Bridegroom and our Father, in our Home, in a new body, with our Family.  There will be a visible level of nearness with the One we have waited a lifetime to actually see.

And my thought: "Can we hurry up and get to that day???" :)

PC: Erica Nilsson on Unsplash and QuoteFancy