“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait I say, on the Lord” – Psalm 27 :14 NKJV
Recently I travelled from Hamilton to Invercargill. This entailed changing planes in Christchurch. When we landed in Christchurch there was a clear blue sky on a very crisp day and the temperature on the tarmac was -1.
As it transpired, my destination airport was closed due to fog. Consequently, my flight was delayed. There was an EXPECTATION from AirNZ that the flight would resume as soon as the fog lifted. So, we WAITED. Four times the announcement came over the public service speakers giving passengers hope that soon we would be on our way. However, the fog took its time, meaning it became a WAITING game.
WAITING can be challenging, and each person approaches it differently. Finding ways to occupy yourself while WAITING can mean tapping into your resources and being creative thereby making the most of the time. Some may regard the time as an opportunity to draw aside, to slow down, to be quiet, to listen, to learn something about themselves. Or you could just curl into a ball, close your eyes and WAIT for the time to pass, and thereby risk missing opportunity to grow.
You would think that as we have learnt to live with Covid-19 we have also learnt to WAIT. We all have had to slow down, take time out and be patient as we WAIT for the world to adjust to a new normality. But not all of us have learnt how to WAIT well.
When God puts us in His WAITING room, how do we respond? Do we have an EXPECTATION that this is a time for quiet silence so we can attune our ears to listen to His still small voice? Do we embrace it as an opportunity to learn something, to change something, to move deeper into something, to grow, or do we resist it and run before it, take charge and bring about our own outcome?
When God puts us in His WAITING room, how do we respond?
Some of the passengers expressed frustration, anxiety, and even anger because they had an EXPECTATION that they would be at a certain place at a certain time and that wasn’t going to be. Some desperately tried to change the outcome by exploring other means of travel while others settled down, pulled out their phones, solved Wordle, read their novel or found a café and had coffee.
As Christians when we are WAITING, we need to have an understanding that God is sovereign, He is over all, He is in control, so therefore our EXPECTATION is that He knows exactly what the outcome will be and will bring it about in His time. We may become impatient and run ahead, we may decide to take things into our own hands but that often only makes things worse.
When God tells us to WAIT, He is saying, “Trust Me with the timing, the ways, the means and you will get a better result”.
When God tells us to WAIT, He is saying, “Trust Me with the timing, the ways, the means and you will get a better result”.
The Bible has several examples of impulsiveness, one of which is recorded in 1 Samuel 13 where King Saul got into trouble because he did not WAIT. So, let’s let God do what He must in the WAITING room because His heart is for us, and it will always be for our benefit.
My flight landed at Invercargill after a three-hour WAIT. The sky was a brilliant blue and the air crisp. It was 5 degrees on the tarmac and there was not a sign of the fog that had caused the necessity for the WAIT. I was fed, watered, rested and four chapters into my novel better off………
Carole