The Art of Waiting

"Hurry up and wait" is what comes to mind when I think of the art of waiting, it's a term I've heard my whole life, coming from a military family, as it is somewhat of a mantra, at least in the Marine Corps. No matter what season of life you're in, you will always be waiting for something.

When you become a believer in Christ, a true follower, where you lay down your plans, dreams and desires, you're signing up for a whole other level of waiting. Trust me, I know this firsthand. It's not fun at times...a lot of times...it can be downright annoying if I'm being real. It's refining. It's painful. It's a death. Death to yourself. But it brings life, and life abundantly. It's worth it.

We live in a microwave society where everything is instant. No longer do you have to wait 20 weeks into your pregnancy to find out the gender of your baby; you can find out as early as 10 weeks with a blood draw! Most women don't even know they're expecting until 8-9 weeks. Don't have money for something you really want? No problem, there's credit cards and financing! Not meeting Mister or Miss Right? No worries, there's an app for that! Don't have time to go grocery shopping and waiting in line to check out? There's an app for that too! None of these things are innately wrong or bad, I'm just making the point that people don't want to wait for anything these days which begs the question of, "how did we as a society get so impatient?" 

Waiting is a spiritual discipline, it produces patience which is a Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The more we wait, the more we learn to be patient. The book of James speaks on patience in a few places; James 1:3 says that the testing of our faith produces patience. Guess what faith is? Another Fruit of the Spirit! James 5:7-11 paints a picture of a farmer and how he waits for his fruit to grow. It also speaks of the prophets and how they were examples of suffering and patience and how we count them blessed who endured! James also mentions the perseverance of Job - I can't even imagine walking through Job's journey - but he exemplified patience, perseverance and an unwavering faith in the faithfulness and mercy of God.

Waiting, as I've experienced, can also produce doubt. The longer we have to wait, the more doubt creeps in. Did I hear God correctly? Did I may this up? What's the point of all this?! I can take matters into my own hands and be done with this scenario! These are honest ponderings that have zipped through my mind, especially here of late. But as I've gone deeper and deeper in intimacy with Holy Spirit over the last handful of years, I'm grateful that I don't stay there. I don't allow the enemy to make a playground out of my thoughts. Romans 12:1-2 says this: "...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the RENEWAL OF YOUR MIND, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." I'm not a Bible scholar but in LONG seasons of waiting, Holy Spirit has ministered to my heart, teaching me that my thoughts go hand-in-hand with the waiting. If I don't take my thoughts captive, I will give in to the temptation of rolling with whatever everyone else is doing, looking like the next person, rather than staying hyper-focused on the call of God Almighty on my life and what I know He's doing, even if it's taking longer than what I expected.

Waiting is a test and it produces character...good character. Ugly stuff comes to the surface - character flaws, old junk, trauma, patterns, habits, crutches all come bubbling up. The process of waiting forces us to see and deal with the baggage but simultaneously produces good character, if we give in to the process. We are living sacrifices, changed from the inside out. I picture the metamorphosis process of a caterpillar to a butterfly; if we interrupt that process, we could literally kill it! If we don't allow the process of waiting to do what it's intended to do, and interrupt the transformation, we do more harm to ourselves than good. Instant gratification is, in the long run, not gratifying at all. In fact, I'd go out on a limb and say that 99.9% of the time, instant gratification can be shallow and not worth it.

Waiting produces perseverance and hope. Romans 5:3-4 tells us that we glory in tribulations knowing that it produces perseverance and perseverance character; and character, hope. We can't live without hope! And I'm not talking about white-knuckling it through life here when it comes to perseverance. We aren't promised an easy life; in fact, we're given a heads-up that life is the opposite! But if in the rough seasons we face, in the pressing, waiting on Him to fight our battles and leaning into the process, we persevere and in turn, it gives us hope! He's already won the victory and we can put all of our chips in on that truth.

Waiting produces strength. Psalm 27:14 tells us to wait on the Lord, to be of good courage and that He will strengthen our hearts. In my seasons of waiting, I'm gung ho for the first little bit, but if I'm being honest, I begin to lose steam when I don't see the finish line when I thought I would. I know the principals of God's timing, how He's in a different dimension when it comes to time. I forget and then remember, then forget and remember again that He is the beginning and the end, He doesn't work with our earthly calendar and clocks! Yet His timing is perfect. However, if we wait on Him, He will give us strength.

Whoever may be reading this...friend, my encouragement for you is keep going, keep waiting. If you've been given a word from the Lord...a dream, a vision, a deep desire...do as Habakkuk said and write it down. Wait for it, it will come! (Habakkuk 2:2-3) As I was reflecting on the topic of waiting, I pictured a USMC 4-Star General, it's the highest senior officer rank. The chest on their Blues is weighed down with ribbons. They must first have a college degree which takes 4 years to accomplish, then it takes another 20-30 years to reach the highest rank. This achievement doesn't happen overnight, it takes decades of maturing, sacrifice, learning and dedication to get there. God doesn't work on our timeline. Many things He calls us to take years, sometimes decades, to see come to fruition. His way and His promises are worth the wait. In the waiting, we become more mature, more effective for the Kingdom, better people, and grow stronger and deeper roots founded in Him and His character. What's at the end of the waiting is more lasting, sweeter and richer fruit, sustaining and not fleeting.

I have certainly not arrived in the area of the art of waiting. I'm sharing my heart on this because I'm in the muddy midst of it. Waiting is, more often times than not, not fun; however the more I have to wait on things of the Lord, the more I see the beautiful, little details in the process of it. I see the answered prayers, the sweet quiet moments, the meaningful relationships and conversations that have come from the seasons of waiting. More importantly than anything else though, is the quicker my response is that I turn to Him for comfort and reassurance rather than caving to the temptation to face-palm Holy Spirit and get things done in my own power. Waiting isn't always fun but it's so incredibly important and so worth it all.