Have you ever found yourself saying, “If I can only get past this? Once I get past this…” But what if God is found in the waiting, in the interlude, in the “this” of our situation?
The waiting period,
the interlude,
the pause,
is so utterly painstakingly hard for me. I’m a go-getter, problem-solver, let’s get it done kind of person. I hate waiting.
You even see the pattern of impatience in my hobbies of choice. I’ve tried knitting, scrapbooking and even crotcheting but I quickly abandon those activities. These hobbies involve multiple days, weeks and sometimes months of waiting to get to the end product. I just don’t have the patience. So I would rather run, bike, hike, and race cars on the side. I’m only joking about the car racing.
How often are we ready to be at the finish line? To the resolution. To the healing. To the end prize. To the answer.
What if?
Let’s take a look at David in the midst of Psalms 27:
“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14
But what if the “Lord’s goodness” that David is talking about is found right here in the waiting?
There is grace to be found in the waiting.
Not at the finish line, not the end product, not the job promotion, not the healing, not the child following Jesus, not in the restored relationship but right here in the waiting.
What if the “Lord’s goodness” I am waiting to see is actually right here in the middle of the chaos, the waiting, the loss, and the confusion.
Right here in the middle of the road with no sight of home.
There is His presence to be found in the waiting.
This is where David finds himself in Psalms 27–in trouble. I’m not sure what the exact events of his life since various commentaries share different views but what I do know is he was suffering. But here’s the thing we have to remember:
God wastes nothing.”
Rushing Past the Waiting
One of David’s often quoted verses is nestled in this cry for help. In verse 4 he says, One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord… gaze on his beauty…seek him in his temple.
We often think of waiting as a passive state when nothing is being done or said.
But in the waiting is where the work of the Lord is happening in you. Often the interlude, the waiting period is hard so we want to rush past it but what if God wants us to stay and sit at His feet in the middle of the waiting.
Will you allow yourself to seek Him in the waiting? Allow Him to comfort you? Will you gaze on Him, cling to Him, and dwell in His presence?
Allowing Him to refine you in the waiting? God’s strength and courage to unfold in your life takes courage and faith. And faith is watered and nurtured. Faith comes from hearing the word of God. So let’s be women who fill ourselves with His word and depend on prayer, not ourselves.
Lord, I’ve tried to frantically get to the end goal in my own strength but it has gotten me nowhere. So I join David in his wail as he looks up to the mountain and REMEMBERS where his help comes from.
As He catches a glimpse of YOU, his spiritual amnesia loses its grip.
God, you waste nothing. There is grace to be found in the waiting.
Lord, I trust you are my good Father but not just a good Father, My gracious Abba.
So I stand not in my own strength or courage but in your truth that “I will see your goodness.” right here in the land of the living.
However that “goodness” may take form I want to believe that this pause, this interlude, this waiting I am in now “is the good work” you began in me, it is “your goodness” you will finish to the end.
You waste nothing.
In your name, I pray. Amen
