The word "wait" has been something I feel like I've been hearing a lot lately, and I'm not the most patient person ever. But in this season of waiting, God has been teaching me that patience is something that is learned and waiting isn't always negative. Actually, more often than not, having to wait makes things even better than getting it exactly when you want it, because God see a future that you cannot.
Regardless of knowing that waiting is beneficial, it usually doesn’t make it any easier. So, here are some verses to encouragement for when God's timing isn't your timing.
1. "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11
Because we are human, often times our perspective comes from what we can see in the immediate future, but God says wait because He has an eternal perspective that we do not have. He did not create us to live life on our own, but to trust in His plan for our lives.
2. "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:25-26
God doesn't make us wait to hurt us, but to give us something greater than we could ever imagine. When we wait for Him, He works out all things for our good.
3. "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
Although waiting may be hard and can be a season in which you feel like God has left you, He promises the opposite; that He will be our strength during the times of waiting and He will help us to come out stronger than we went into the hardships.
4. "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:8
Sometimes it feels like you're waiting forever, but God's concept of time is very different from ours. We think of our life in perspective of eternity, it makes the waiting time seem a little bit shorter. We have to trust that God's timing is the right timing.
5. "But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me." Micah 7:7
In times of waiting, focus on the Lord instead of focusing on yourself. He doesn't ever leave us alone. It is okay to get frustrated, sad or upset, just bring all of it to the Lord, because He hears us, He cares and waiting only happens because He loves us.
So, if you are in a season of waiting and you feel like it may never end, just remember that God rewards those who wait patiently. He doesn't make us wait to hurt us, but to heal us. He wants the very best for those He loves. Even when God's timing isn't your timing, find comfort in the fact that you do not have to wait alone. Seasons of waiting can bring greater things than you could ever have imagined.
