On Pause

1/9/2021

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31

Waiting is hard. There, I said it. Whether we are 1 or 101, when we are waiting for something to happen, it sometimes feels like forever. It doesn't matter if we are waiting to be sat at a crowded restaurant, taken care of at the DMV, counting down the hours until we see our loved ones again, biding our time at an airport, etc., waiting is not fun. Some people use the in-between times to do constructive things, and there are others of us that are clock watchers and foot tappers. I'm sure the former method is a lot better. For most of us, waiting is a test of patience. The question is, can we discern when a waiting period that comes from God?

My husband and I, like so many other people currently in our world, are in a time of extended waiting. Every time we think an answer has come and a change is going to occur, the wait begins again. It is exhausting and emotionally draining. It's like a cruel psychological experiment where the thing you desire or need the most is put right within your reach, only to be snatched away so your reaction can be monitored and read. 

Yes, waiting is hard, but in God's word there are so many instances where His people had to wait. Abraham waited to have a son and to reach the Promised Land. He waited a long time, and only saw one of those things come to pass. The Hebrew people waited to be led out of slavery under the Egyptians. David waited for the throne, and although he was anointed by God, he waited without taking matters into his own hands. Zachariah and Elizabeth waited to have a child, and that did not happen until they were old. The Apostles waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In all of these instances and many others, the people waited on God for their answer. 

That is what we are called to do as well. When we force something that is not of God, we can certainly feel it, and things usually do not go well. However, when we wait for something to come about in His perfect timing, we can feel that too through the blessings that follow. We need to battle the fear and doubt that can creep in, and we do that through faith that God is with us always. The trick is to keep going vertical. The more we enter into conversation with God, and pour out our hearts to Him, the more strength we will receive to carry on as we wait. It is, after all, only an intermission before the next chapter in our story. With God as our author, we can trust it will turn out exactly as He has planned.