"Wait," it's one of the most hated and frustrating words in the English language. I admit that patience is indubitably one of the biggest struggles I face (and often revisit). In this day and age especially, it seems that we are more impatient than ever. We want to know the answer now. We demand to have the game-plan laid out for us as if we deserve to know whenever we want. Why? Because simply put, we want to have control and be in the know. It's part of our natural instinct.
You know what else is part of our human nature? Sin. Yet God calls us to call on him in any & every situation, and even though we feel as though he isn't listening because we did not get an immediate "yes" or "no" response, be confident that He is absolutely listening. Not only does he listen to you when you pray, but he is with you 24/7. The Lord walks alongside you, he leads you by walking in front of you, and he has your back by walking right behind you. Your Father surrounds you, always. So do not doubt for a minute that he doesn't listen to you when you pray! This is the God who set you apart and knew you way before you came into this world; this is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Israel. The Lord is the One who has ultimate control and power over everything, and once we realize how little control we have over our lives, the easier it is to just let go and completely relinquish and entrust that control to him.
When we feel like we do not have a grip on the reigns of our life, it's easy to respond by desperately trying to take over through making a rash and selfish decision. Developing a habit of simply praying "I trust you, Jesus" throughout each day will remind you to box up those uncertainties and leave them at the feet of Jesus (without running back and grabbing them). Unlatch that death-grip of yours!
Practically everything is immediate and at our fingertips, from instant movie streams on Netflix to searches on Google. This is the lifestyle we have become used to, and it is ultimately up to us whether we act on it in a demanding, self-seeking way or accept God's discipline of patience whenever we do have to wait.
It's pretty comical how we give God deadlines that we need to know his answers by, as if he is our intern—seriously how ridiculous can we be?! But how grateful we should be for his abundant grace and unending mercies!
One of the main distinctions between us and God is that he is all-knowing while our minds are finite and limited. He knows the plans he has for us; he knows our future; he knows us better than we know ourselves; he loves and cares for us more than we can even fathom. So then, why wouldn't we want to give God all the control?
It is much more wise to trust God with our life rather than ourselves. Being told by God to wait is a wonderful reminder of his unlimited capabilities and mighty power, and that this is all in God's timing, not yours.
Bob Goff, author of "Love Does," wrote, "You don't need to know everything when you're with someone you trust." Goff gave the example of the unschooled, ordinary disciples of Jesus and how they did not know Jesus's game-plan for them, but still followed him and did as he said because they simply and genuinely trusted Him. Ask the Lord for that simplicity and sincerity towards trusting him with everything you have.
A silly little thing that I remember from a summer camp my friends and I would go to called Camp Lurecrest was when we would ask our counselors what the plans were for the day, they would simply reply with "wafo" (which then always made me think of waffles), but it meant "wait and find out." We would always be so frustrated, but once we waited and found out, it was always worth the unexplained wait.
What may seem like an "unanswered" prayer to you right now is as definite as an answer of "yes" or "no"—it's simply God telling you "wafo."
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." —Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
"And this is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." —1 John 5:14 (NIV)
