We don’t wait well.
When I wait for food I order, I run the risk of getting hungrily irritated.
When I wait for one of my kids, I get annoyed.
When I wait to hear back from a job application, I get anxious.
When I wait to on the Lord’s timing, I get frustrated.
We don’t wait well.
Waiting is good when it’s driven by a desire to follow the Lord’s calling on our life. Waiting is good when the result is excellent fruit and growth.
Waiting is bad when we waste the time focusing on the waiting. Waiting is bad when the result is a heart of grumbling over wasted time.
I’ve been in a season of waiting - you may have been too. I’m waiting on so many things that I have yet to see come to fruition but I believe I’ve waited well. I only say that at the risk of sounding immodest because I’ve allowed myself to be moulded during this time. I’ve had moments where my waiting hasn’t been peaceful because I’ve been frustrated with the lack of clarity and, seemingly, the lack of direction. However, as followers of the Lord we’re never directionless even though we can’t see beyond the mountain in front of us.
If you don’t know me, you wouldn’t know that I’m a keen hiker: keen as in I love hiking and do it often but not keen as in I will hike in harsh conditions. I draw the line somewhere. And if you’re not from Scotland you may not know that we have a classification of hills calls Munros that are any hills above 3000 ft. Many times you cannot see the top of the hill when you start your hike because there are other hills you need to ascend first before you get to the one you’re aiming for.
There have been many times when I’ve started up one hill exclaiming, “There’s the top! We just need to get to the top of this and then we’re done,” only to find that it was nowhere near the top. This then happens several more times before we crest a hill, look beyond and groan with disappointment that no, no, that wasn’t the top: the top is way over there and we have so much further to go than we thought.
It’s not always a pleasant experience and waiting can be like that. You head in a direction that you’re sure is right, and it is because you’ve heard from the Lord and you feel peace (different than an absence of fear) about where you’re going. You move forward with some sort of destination in mind but sometimes that’s not the actual destination. You reach that point you were so sure of and feel disheartened that the destination is still somewhere over yonder and you aren’t even sure where yet. You’re never directionless…the end goal might just still be a surprise but you’re never left with no direction.
Or it could be that you don’t even know what initial step to take and you feel like you’re waiting, turning in circles trying to find just one open door. This is the hardest place to be (for me). As a chronic do-er, I find it nearly impossible to wait, let alone wait well. My inclination is to start building my own door if none of the readily available ones will open. I’m resourceful and love learning so why not teach myself carpentry while I wait.
In doing that, yes, I’d create a way forward and, yes, the Lord will still be with me but it wouldn’t have been his best door. I would have missed all of the lessons that he was trying to teach me in the waiting. The door I build for myself may lead to the same place God wants to take me but it would be with the absence of crucial things that would have equipped me to walk through that door in step with the Lord and in the fullness of who the Lord needs me to be for this next season. I can do all things my way or do all things God’s way who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13) and life has taught me that God’s way is always far better than my DIY, I’ll teach myself, carpentry skills.
