When it comes to waiting, we hate it. Your trial of waiting is often confusing and hard to understand, so why do it? Continue reading to see why I think we have to wait.

As you can read in parts 1 and 2, there are a few things that waiting is not, and there are a few things that make waiting right. With these answers, now we must question, “Why does God make us wait?”

The first problem with this is that God does not wait. He is often described as being omnipresent, being everywhere at the same time. I often considered that this was for both location and time. If God knows everything about my life, He must see everything at the same time, right? He is the God that breaks the rules of time, which is great, but may also mean you are just over-dramatizing your waiting trial. Ouch.

We often like to push God along. You know, “C’mon God! Make this happen now! I know you can do it, so why haven’t you?!” This doesn’t work. We cannot rush the God who created time. It simply does not work that way. We spend all of our time in a hurry, but God is not so much like that.

A change in our perspective can explain to us why God makes us wait. We don’t have all of the details! When you need to truly see what is in front of you, do you not find a place with a better view? Kids get on shoulders; pirates climb their mast; and hunters get in trees. When you climb into a higher place, your view changes. We may think we have it all figured out, but when your perspective changes, you can see that God is the only one who knows what’s going on. We live in His time schedule, after all.

Why do we wait?

Waiting builds us.

Waiting gives us a nice time to focus on things of the present. We live in the now generation, and we can sometimes miss out on the things around us if our focus is too much on the future. It gives us the chance to rely solely on God and His time. It builds your relationship with Him, and gives you time to both figure out yourself and your connection to God. He wants you to get closer to Him just by the mere fact that He does not make you wait alone.

Waiting excites us.

“Wait, what? Waiting is definitely not exciting. I am about to have a fit waiting in line. In fact, I’m even more bored and restless now than I was at the beginning of this quote. How could that be exciting?” Have you ever experienced something where the wait was worth it? We have instances like this multiple times in our lives. Kids have to wait until Christmas for gifts; your favorite steak takes time to cook. Your dream car took years of funding, and the 30 second roller coaster ride was definitely worth the 5 hours in line. Waiting can sometimes really stink, but once you grab ahold of something really great, you can completely forget about the process it took to get there. I feel like God is doing that for us. He’s preparing you for the prize ahead, something much bigger than you could ever imagine or plan for yourself. The waiting takes awhile, but it builds up the anticipation for the great things He has in store for us.

Waiting reveals us.

Settling is a huge problem for many people. We all do it at some point, and if you have, you know for a fact that settling for the wrong thing is both irritating and regretful. Do you want this plan for your life simply because it is convenient? Do you want anything bad enough to wait for it? Waiting can reveal our true motives. If you have the greatest intentions, it won’t bother you to wait it out. If the plans or things you’re waiting on require urgency, chances are they are not the best options, or you are not the best candidate. It sounds harsh, but it is true. A good heart will wait for the right moment, but the wrong heart will be broken before the very beginning.

When it comes to waiting, we need to anticipate and prepare for it. It will happen, and, depending on the placement of your heart, it can be the best or worst time for you. I can’t begin to speak on God’s behalf for why He puts us through these trials, but I know for a fact that He knows best. He wants to be closer to us, and He wants to prepare us. He knows the perfect time for everything, and I would much rather wait for His perfect plan than to settle for my unprepared direction.

Luckily, in all of this, God never asks us to wait things out on our own. The weight of waiting is heavy, but our God is big enough to carry it for all of us.

 

Part 1 ↲   Part 2 ↲