TRUST, OBEY AND WAIT
Dear you,
It is well.
I know you have waited for so long. And now, perhaps, you’re frustrated and filled with so many questions. What if? Lord, are You there? Did I hear You correctly? How much longer do I have to wait?Think about a seed when it is first planted. When a farmer puts that seed into the ground, they already know that, eventually, something should come out of it. Yet for a while, there is nothing to see. They wait. And wait. The ground still looks the same, but the farmer holds on to faith because they know something is happening beneath the surface. They believe that, in the end, they will see something fruitful. The faith of a farmer.
There is something about waiting; it tests you. Can you hold on to the word God gave you about your future, even when it looks far away? Even when it seems impossible? Even when there is no physical evidence that anything is changing? Do you truly trust God? There is almost no feeling like writing an exam and then having to wait for the results. Even the most confident person can begin to doubt themselves during that waiting period. What if I failed? What if I got it wrong? What if the result isn't what I expected? You may be convinced you passed, only to discover that you failed. That feeling is horrible.
But the waiting game with God is different. Sometimes, God reveals the end before you have even taken the test. He tells you, “You have passed.” He shows you what He intends to do before you ever see it come to pass. And when He does that, your responsibility is to trust Him. There is a beautiful old hymn that says:
“When we walk with the Lord
in the light of His word,
what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”
Trust and obey. It sounds so simple, but living it out is not always easy.
Sometimes what God has promised looks impossible. Sometimes it feels too far away. Sometimes what He showed you feels completely disconnected from what you can currently see. But still, trust and obey. Look at Saul in 1 Samuel 13. Samuel had instructed Saul to wait. Saul waited seven days, according to the appointed time Samuel had given him. But when Samuel did not arrive as quickly as Saul expected, Saul became anxious. The people were scattering. The pressure was increasing. The situation around him looked uncertain. So Saul acted. And just as he finished making the sacrifice he was not supposed to make, Samuel arrived. Oh Saul…could you not have waited just a little longer? You waited all that time, only to allow the pressure of the final moments to make you act prematurely. And perhaps that is a word for somebody: Do not allow the length of your wait to make you abandon your position. What if you feel like you have already waited until the appointed time? What if you feel like, “God, surely by now it should have happened?” Wait. Your waiting state is not your wasting state.
No one who truly waits on the Lord is disgraced. If God has said He will do it, continue to wait for Him.
The Bible reminds us in 2 Peter 3:8: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” Your timing and His timing are not the same. What you call a delay, God may not call a delay at all. Think about the windscreen wipers on a car. They are always there, ready and available, but they do not fulfil their purpose until the rain comes. Imagine the wiper saying, “I've been sitting here for so long. It hasn't rained. Maybe I'm not needed. Maybe I should leave.” But the absence of rain today does not mean rain will never come. The wiper's responsibility is not to produce the rain. Its responsibility is to remain ready for the rain. And maybe that is what God is asking of you in this season. Prepare yourself for the season He told you would come. Don't leave your waiting place simply because you have been there longer than you expected. Don't abandon what God told you because you cannot yet see evidence of it. The rain will come. And when it does, may you be found exactly where God told you to be, ready. May God bless us as we navigate through this life. May He give us the strength to wait when waiting becomes difficult, to trust when we cannot see, and to obey even when we do not understand. May we never allow impatience to make us walk away from something God told us to wait for. Wait. Trust. Obey. God has not forgotten what He said. God richly bless you.
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