I have to admit I really hate the word ‘wait’. It symbolizes waste. We wait at stop lights, wait in doctor’s ‘waiting rooms’, wait in line at the grocery store, wait for checks to arrive in the mail, wait for apologies, wait for waiters to wait on us, and wait for storms to pass and better days to dawn. It all seems a big waste of time.
And so it was with some trepidation that I began reading the little devotional book by Andrew Murray entitled, ‘Waiting on God’. A friend sent it to me and I felt I needed to read it during the current transition I am facing in my life and career. I have been praying for God’s timing and God’s process in my life, and that has required that I truly submit everything to Him and…well…wait.
In struggling through Murray’s wonderful book I have learned several new things about what it means to wait upon the Lord. I want to share them with you in my next few blogs. Let me share one with you here – waiting is the norm for the life of a true disciple, not the exception. That is, we were created to be people whose spirit is attuned to waiting patiently on God to lead, direct, act, respond and refine us. It is in the waiting that character is developed, faith is forged, humility is nurtured and wisdom is granted.
That was news to me. I always considered the waiting times of life as frustrating distractions from the more important ‘doing’ aspects of life. I waited for God like I did a delayed flight home after a long week away. But Murray has helped me to see that God invites us and encourages us to embrace waiting on Him as a central theme in our Christian walk. Far from being fruitless time, it is in our waiting that God shapes and forms us into His people. Waiting is an act of worship. God ordained it and seeks to change us in those waiting times of life.
So I am struggling with Andrew Murray and trying to embrace waiting on God as an essential element in my growth as his child. It is not wasted but precious time spent in prayer, quietness and a hopeful expectation. For the first time in my life, I am embracing the posture of waiting, not ‘just until’ God acts, but treasuring every moment and cultivating a patience and trust deeper than I have ever known. OK, I still speed up at yellow lights so I don’t get stuck waiting on the red, but there is a expansion in my spirit regarding what God may be up to as I strive to wait patiently on Him. What is God doing in your life while he asks you to wait on Him?