Do we wait well?

I recently had the privilege of hearing a sermon by the amazing Jon Keel, preacher and evangelist, who reminisced about times past. He spoke about the patience required with old-school internet dial-ups, which took minutes (if you were lucky), not seconds, to connect you to the internet. As well as the difficult decision-making process that ensued when deciding to surf the World Wide Web, which included collective co-operation from everyone in your household to commit to not using the house phone for the entire duration, as the two couldn’t operate in tandem!

What a time! And ​“sadly”, one I remember (showing my age). But whether you were from that generation or not, his sermon posed a sombre reality. It seems that the world has accelerated at such a fast pace that we can barely comprehend living in a world where anything can’t be done at the click of a button and in an instant. We have become so accustomed to fast connections, instant messaging and even speedy noodles that it can feel inconceivable that we would ever have to wait for anything. Prompting me to consider: Do we wait well on God while living in an ​‘instant’ world?

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I had never really considered before how the framework in which I interact with the world could be impacting the ​‘conditions’ I place on God. And yet, there is so much in scripture that reminds us that God does not operate within the parameters of this world. He doesn’t work in Kronos (chronological) time but in Kairos (God-ordained) time. He may be a God who often does things suddenly, but that is not His only frequency. 

Maybe you are believing in God for healing, a new job, growth in your ministry or a spouse. Whatever you are waiting for, that period of time between your prayer petition and prayer fruition can feel long, lonely and silent. We can find our faith waning in the waiting season as the days turn into weeks, the weeks turn into months, and the months turn into years; we begin to question, Has God heard my prayer? Is anything happening?

The encouraging thing is that scripture reminds us that even in the waiting there is provision; ​“He that waits on the Lord will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). The waiting is not intended to deplete us, and in fact the Lord will give us all we need in the waiting seasons of our lives. But what it also confirms is that waiting is part of His design. There were so many in the Bible who were required to wait on the Lord: Abraham and Sarah were 100 and 90 before they conceived Isaac. Joseph spent around 13 years as a slave and a prisoner before His release and the fulfilment of his vision, and Noah waited approximately 100 years between receiving the command to build the ark and the arrival of the floodwaters.

So why do we wait? 

Whenever I have prayed for God to move in an area of my life, I have often found a season of refining followed: the prayer for a car upgrade led to a season of me learning to appreciate and maintain the banger that I already had. A prayer for financial increase preceded a season of stringent budgeting and learning to live more responsibly within my means. A prayer for a career change was followed by a season of demotion and redirection before qualifying for a more senior role. 

This may not always be the case or God’s path to answered prayer, but it does make sense that if you want to get stronger, you will have to lift heavier weights. If the Lord wants you to cultivate greater faith, you may need to endure a season that requires greater patience and trust in Him. 

What we do know is that the wait is never because God is not listening or moving on our behalf. We serve a loving and compassionate God who promises that when we pray, He listens (Jeremiah 29:12). His ​“ears are attentive” (1 Peter 3:12), and even before we ask, He is working it out for us: ​“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24).

So whatever you and I are believing in God for, that may feel like we have entered into a waiting season, placed on hold, or as if we are watching a spooling screen that just won’t load, let us be reminded that we belong to the one true living God, who promises to hear and answer our prayers and sustain us in the meantime, so that we may run and not grow weary, walk and not faint, and let us seize the opportunity to grow in patience in an impatient world.