Survive the Wait

How to Survive the Wait

We wait in traffic, wait at the bank, wait to pick up kids, wait for God to answer our prayers.

We are in good company when we are in a waiting season. Abraham waited decades to become a father. Moses tended sheep for forty years before leading the Israelite nation out of Egypt. Jesus wowed temple priests at age twelve; then, nothing else was reported for eighteen years until he started his ministry.

Good things take time.

God’s vision for our lives is a process worth the wait.

We would all love for God to show up and answer our prayers in our timing. But our way may not be the best way. Isaiah 55:9 reminds us that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. God knows better than we do how to bring about His best for us.

This week, we will learn how to make the best of our wait. There are four keys to surviving the wait: praise, prepare, plant, and persist.

If we work on those things while God does his part, the wait becomes more like the blessing mentioned in Isaiah.

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

The more seasons of waiting we go through, the deeper our understanding is that God has a good purpose for every wait.

Can we learn to praise him even when we don’t have the answers we seek?

Are we preparing our hearts and planting seeds?

Can we be persistent through every obstacle and hurdle we encounter as we wait for God to move?

Instead of dreading the wait or railing against it, let’s embrace it for its opportunity: a chance to become more like Jesus and walk out the calling God has for us.

Action: Spend quiet time with God to see how he wants you to spend your wait.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:9

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:3

Prayer: Father God, I don’t want to rush the process you guide me through. I trust you that this wait is an opportunity in disguise. Please help me learn everything you have for me here so I use this wait time to its fullest and best. In Jesus’ name, amen.