Reasons for Waiting

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40:31)

Reasons for waiting. I hate to wait?

People have said that we are the microwave generation, which means that we don’t wait; we just get what we want instantly. For example:

• when you are hungry, you put your food in the microwave oven and it will be warm in a minute.
• We go to the drive-through to order food instead of going inside.
• We can download songs and music from iTunes and it will be ready to play in seconds so that we don’t even need to go to the store nowadays.
• When we drive, we also watch see which lane has fewer cars and switch to that lane so as to get to our destinations faster!

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40:31)
Maybe God has a reason for us to wait and there is an assignment attached to the waiting that we need to do. Waiting is not a waste of time. If we don’t understand this, we will end up grumbling and being angry during our wait, and fail the assignment God has given us to do while we wait.

3 teachers from the Bible : Moses, Naaman the Leper, and Peter.

we learn from them the lessons and the reasons for waiting.

1st teacher - Moses.

Moses and the Israelites left Egypt and then waited 40 years in the wilderness to get into the Promised Land. The Israelites grumbled constantly during the wait. God took them out of Egypt instantly but made them wait for 40 years before entering the Promised Land. There was a reason. God was doing something in their hearts. Instead of taking them through the shortest route, God led them through the longest route because God used the wait to strengthen their hearts!

God uses the wait to STRENGTHEN our hearts.

We might be between jobs now or being put on hold in a relationship :( We might be waiting for something now and it seems like the waiting time is a waste, but it is not a waste because there is a reason to wait because God is using that wait to strengthen our hearts now.

As the Bible said, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, even though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” (Ex. 13:17) God took them through the longer route instead because their hearts were not ready. There would be tests like wars thrust upon the Israelites in the future and they would not be ready if they had taken the shortest route to reach the Promised Land. Therefore, God used the wait to strengthen them so that they would be ready for wars or any other future trials.

During the time of waiting, there are some tendencies that will surface. The first one is grumbling. We tend to grumble about our boss at work, grumble about us not being recognized at work, or not having a raise in our salary. And the second tendency is losing focus. We lose focus of us being Christian after the grumbling; then we forget about why God put us in the situation and forget to be God’s salt and light. The third tendency is to quit. We would just quit the situation because we are tired of waiting and our hearts wither. And the last is settling for less, and missing out on the wonderfulness God has for us in our future. But that is also why God put us into waiting periods - to resolve these tendencies that we have in our hearts.

We usually see the wait as a waste of time, and ask God to move things faster for us. But the waiting time is indeed not a waste as it has its own assignment from God! There is a reason to wait and it’s not an empty time. We have an assignment to do for God while waiting - to resolve our tendencies, and to build strengths and character in Him.

APPLICATION
God wants us to wait at times so that we are ready for the trials in our future. Without the wait, when the trials come, which could be unemployment, financial issues or sickness, our hearts will wither. That’s why God takes us through a time of waiting to strengthen our hearts.
Example: Running. Without training, my muscles would not have been strong enough to stand a real race, and I would not have developed the stamina and strength that I needed to run a race.

God put me to wait to give me strengths and character i need for my future. i will wait, and not do it my own way, for i will mess up what God has designed to be wonderful for me. i will plan and i will pray for guidance. but Thy will be done. i will not grumble or lose focus... i will not quit nor settle for less for i know God has the bestest of plan for me and my future

It is God's way or no way! He will give me strength and character for the wonderfulness He has prepared for me.
AMEN