Waiting it something we all must do. Unfortunately, it’s not associated with pleasure. The term waiting room brings connotations of uncomfortable chairs and stress as one waits to see a doctor. Worse yet is the family waiting to hear news about a loved one’s conditioner outcome.
Perhaps the most notorious waiting is at the motor vehicle license branches. It is the home of the “take a ticket, take a seat”. You just hope your ticket is not 100 and they are serving number 68. Is there ever a time that place is not busy and one does not have to sit in those ridiculously uncomfortable chairs?
Even in fun places like amusement parks have us waiting in line for the activities. Sometimes the wait is hours long and seems to never end. Parks have tried to circumvent the waiting by selling passes for a premium price which permits a person to have no or less wait time. Needless to say the parks are making a fortune.
No one seems happy while waiting. It’s a rarity in a waiting room for people to laugh and converse with others waiting. Even in that amusement park ride line, most are not happy. Children are usually whining and restless. Tired Parent are trying to placate and entertain the little ones while heat and sun take a toll on sunburnt vacationers. Waiting is certainly not my happy place.
Waiting requires patience and sometimes self control. It is a goal oriented activity. I want to ride that ride for bragging rights, so I waited. I need to see my doctor or renew that license, so I wait. It is a choice to wait. We choose to wait to receive the desired outcome. It is never cool to say “No, Man the ride lines were too long, I didn’t ride it”. I could go to an immediate care center, but I will not see my physician who knows me and my history. I could risk getting pulled over and receiving a ticket if I leave now instead of renewing the license. I have choices to make, if I desire a specific outcome. Will I be goal directed or look for another way out?
Have you ever heard of Abraham and Sarah? Talk about waiting. Abraham was promised to be the father of a nation. His descendants would be like the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16) or as many as the stars in the night sky (Genesis 15:5). What an amazing promise God made to Abraham. To be the father of a nation and to have a family that would multiply greatly. What a huge calling. Abraham was amazed, but told God there was just one problem. Abraham had no children. None at all, at 70+ years old. God continued and promised Abraham he would have a child. His line would be the one to increase as promised. Genesis 15:6 states “And Abram believed the Lord…..” That is the key. Abraham (he was called Abram at the time) believed God to be true too is word. He had faith God would bring it all to pass. This does not mean he did not waiver in the promise. In Genesis 15 Abraham also asks for a sign that God will do as He promised. God did not become upset and instead gave Abraham that sign. Abraham believed.
Fast forward a few years and guess what had happened? You got it, absolutely NOTHING. Day to day life went on without any changes. There were no children born. Abraham was around age 81 by now and his wife Sarah was about 71. Sarah became certain God had forgotten them and the promise He made. She was tired of waiting. Not only was she tired of waiting, but the situation was becoming quite impossible. God must have another way He wanted them to use to gain this promised child. She decided she needed to do something. You know, kind of help God out. In other words she went from tired of waiting to completely impatient. She did not see the answer coming and began to make the plan her own way. She approached Abraham about using her servant, Hagar, as a means to gain them a child. I am sure she reasoned “After all it would still be Abrahams child.” Surely God, must intended to do it that way as Sarah could not have a baby at her age. She convinced herself and even Abraham that God must want it this way. She began to believe they had misunderstood God’s intent. It was common in that time for men to have children with concubines, so that must be what God wanted, right?
Are you seeing that she forgot one crucial conversation? She forgot to ask God what He wanted and what He intended. No where in the scripture does it say Sarah prayed or sought God on what to do about Abraham’s descendants. I am sure Sarah was a woman who believed. She had seen God move in so many ways before this. Sarah was only human. Doubt, fear, and her desire for a child began to weigh heavy on her heart. One of her descendants even wrote in Proverbs 30: 15-16 that a barren womb is one of the things in the world that cannot be satisfied. Sarah was distraught. She felt her time had passed and God had forgotten her. She saw menopause come and go. She felt all of the changes that happen as time ravages the female body. Becoming pregnant was not a possibility in her reality. It quite literally was not physically possible. So……there must be another way God intended for this all to go down. She just forgot to ask Him.
I do not have all the answers for why we frequently have to wait on God. I learned at an early age, that it can be a time of God putting the pieces into place to make the outcome more than I could dream. I was 17 and had my first job. I so wanted a car. Mind you, my job was in easy walking distance from my home. I had access to my parent’s car for trips I needed and even wanted to make. I did not really need a car, but boy, did I want one. I found one in the paper and tried like everything to get my dad to loan me the funds to purchase it. He said no. I prayed and Dad still said no and explained that the care most likely had significant problems. a few months later, I saw THE CAR at a used car lot. Every time we went by I was so happy to see it still there with the price on the windshield. Sadly, it was way out of my price range. I was going to save like crazy to buy it. One day we went by and it was not there. My car was gone! I was so frustrated. God new I wanted that car. What had happened? My insult was added to when I found out the older cousin of my best friend had purchased it. The cousin even drove that thing to church. UGH!! I ride in with my parents and there sits my car in the church parking lot! I really had to work on envy, forgiveness, and faith. I was talking to my mother about it and in my frustration said “Well, if God wants me to have a car I guess He will just need to bring it to the front of the house.”
Over the course of several months multiple things happened. My financial situation began to change. I had money come to me on a monthly basis that I had no idea would be there. My parents had me put it all into my savings account. My supposed summer/fall job continued past the date I thought it would end. I now had a steady part time job and worked all though my senior year. My friend was gifted his grandmother’s car. We rode to school together, which let me sleep in some when I worked. I found out my dream car had been sold from dealer lot that sold a large number of salvaged cars. Those are cars that had been wrecked, declared total losses, and rebuilt. My dream car looked great, but had a lot of problems. My friend’s cousin wished she had not purchased it.
In May just before graduation, I came home to see a different car sitting at my house. It was not one I recognized. Unknown to me my dad’s friend, knowing I was preparing to go to a commuter college, had started car shopping for me. My dad was in poor health at the time and the friend had stepped in to fill his role. He had gone to a reputable dealer and asked for them to let him know when a car with certain specs came in. The result was the car sitting in front of my house. It was just as I had said God would need to do. I can only imagine how God chuckled when I saw that car and realized what it was. Impatient, tired of waiting, 17 yr old me did not know all that God would do to meet my need for a car. God had put it all in place in His time. The car was a trade in that had never been wrecked nor had mechanical problems. I had sufficient funds in the bank to pay for it. It was a model I could afford insurance to cover. It got good gas milage for the time. It was perfect for me. This was a great car that carried me though 4 1/2 years of college and the first couple of years of marriage. God put His perfect plan into place in His time and the outcome was more than I had ever planned.
Was this why God had Abraham and Sarah wait? Did He have things He wanted in place to ensure their child and descendants were going to have all they needed? Was it a test of faith to trust Him to bring it to pass? I do not claim to have all the answers. I do know that when we are waiting we are to not be like Sarah. We are to continue to follow in what God has set before us. We are to continue to have faith that He can and will meet the need in the face of what seems like impossibility. Holding on to that faith and waiting can be so very hard to do. Like with Sarah the enemy will bring those doubts, fears, irritations, and emotions into the mix. We need to hold to what we have been told. We need to hold onto the promises we have been given. We definitely need to talk to God during this time and let Him refresh our faith and strength.
I have often wondered what the world would be like had Sarah chosen to hold on to what God had given her instead of finding her own way. Abraham did become the father of nations—plural. Both of his sons inherited the promise to become many and great. Unfortunately, the battle between the sons began early and continues in their descendants to this day. Perhaps that is the question we need to ask when those doubts and fears come in. What will my life be like if I do not trust God to bring the promises He has given? Will I be where I need to be in few years if I do my own thing now? Will God still bring His will to reality, but my life be more difficult or less satisfying than it needed to be? What do I need to work on or what is God showing me during this waiting? These are good questions for the waiting times. I pray you have the faith and courage to choose to wait on God to move in His time. Hold on to Ecclesiastes 3:11 while you wait. “He has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (NLT)