Waiting…Not Patiently - Martin Wiles

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1 NLT

I placed the order…and then waited. What else could I do?

What I did do was mark my calendar four weeks into the future. I wouldn’t get impatient until then. Since deliveries of most things took four to six weeks, I waited until the four-week mark to begin marking off days. Occasionally, things arrived sooner. I checked the mailbox daily and huffed when my item didn’t appear.

What I ordered didn’t matter. Books, magazines, articles of clothing, a knife. In my younger days, nothing came overnight or even next day delivery. And patience was never one of my virtues. Age has helped me develop a little more patience, but I still struggle.

Fortunately, technology has solved my problem … or made it worse, depending on how I look at it. If I want a book, I can get it immediately in Kindle form. If I want something else, chances are Amazon—or some other company—can ship it by the next day if I want to pay extra. Since I struggle with patience, I love what technology has done with delivery times.

Seemingly, the psalmist had learned the art of patience, although we aren’t told his attitude as he waited. The attitude we wait with holds as much importance as the practice of waiting itself.

One thing I’ve discovered about God is that He works according to His timetable, not mine. And He normally works on the four-to-six-week schedule rather than next day delivery. I’m sure helping me develop patience is one of His reasons, but there may be myriad others as well.

At the right time, God will lift us from the despair that often accompanies the waiting. What the psalmist doesn’t say is that the lifting is often a process. And often longer than four to six weeks.

God will help us find solid ground. Yet the ground might shake numerous times before the solid ground ever appears.

God also gives us a new song in our hearts. After we have waited. And normally after we have sung a few off-key notes.

Whatever we wait on, God will come to our aid. In His time. In His way. And when He does, we’ll wonder why we had such a difficult time waiting.

Let God teach you the art of waiting…patiently.

Prayer: Father, teach us to wait on You so we don’t mess up Your plan by getting ahead of You.

Tweetable: How's your waiting? 

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Hurry Up God - Martin Wiles

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NLT

His impatience would have made us run a red light.

Our two-year-old grandson has just learned his primary colors. Everywhere we go, he points out those colors to us. He names them on each toy he picks up. And even when we stop at a red light.

“Go, Meme, go.”

He hates to stop when he is riding. Although he knew the light was red, it meant nothing to him. He just wanted the wheels to roll again. We had to explain that a red light means to stop. We couldn’t go until it turned green. Our explanation didn’t satisfy him. He wanted to go. Although he has now matured a little, he still hollers, “Go,” if we stop at a red light.

The psalmist, David, knew a little about waiting. He was sixteen years old when the prophet Samuel anointed him as king of Israel, but he wouldn’t take the throne until he was thirty. Nothing in the biblical record makes it appear that he tried to hurry up God.

Waiting on God’s timing isn’t easy, but it’s necessary if we’re to enjoy God’s best. Waiting requires trust. I have to believe deep in my soul that God has a plan for my life and that this plan is better than any I could manufacture. Otherwise, I’ll make my own plans and trot off in directions God doesn’t plan for me to go.

When I don’t wait on God, I’ll find myself making bad decisions that hurt me and others. The decisions may or may not be sinful. The issue is they are decisions God’s doesn’t want me to make. They may even be snap judgments rather than prayed-over conclusions.

Waiting on God’s timing puts me in line to receive His best, which is what He wants. It also helps me develop patience. The Bible is filled with examples of God asking the people He called into service to wait.

Pausing when it seems to make no sense is also a powerful witnessing tool. Others will notice how we are trusting instead of running off with our own plan. Which will give us the opportunity to tell them the reason for our course of action.

Don’t hurry up God by making your own plans. Wait on His. They are always better.

Tweetable: Are you trying to hurry up God?

Prayer: Father, give us the patience and faith to wait on Your timing in all areas of our life. 

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Conquering Impatience - Martin Wiles

Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Travel steadily along his path. Psalm 37:34 NLT

We are born with impatience, not the other way around.

Although our first grandchild was impatient when a toddler, our second was more so. Perhaps because he saw what his brother could do and wanted to do the same, even though he was two years younger. Long before he should have eaten table food, he wanted it. Brother ate with a utensil, and he wanted to as well. Big brother also walked and ran. So crawling wasn’t much on our second grandson’s agenda. 

Impatience doesn’t always stop at childhood. It can follow into younger and older adulthood. It did me. I knew God’s promise to meet my needs, but I wanted Him to do it quicker than He often did.  

Some are impatient for a spouse, or a boyfriend or girlfriend. Not willing to wait for God to send the right person, they prematurely jump into bad relationships. Or the pregnancy doesn’t come quickly enough, so the parents resort to other measures. The list goes on. A larger house, a more prestigious car, a better job. The impatience list is long and cumbersome.

The psalmist’s advice is sound. Walk a godly path, and wait for God to act. Easier said than done, but possible with God’s assistance.

Waiting for God to act means I have to submit to God’s timing, which is usually radically different than mine. But as I wait for Him to act, I develop the very thing He wants to teach me: patience.

Waiting for God to act involves succumbing to God’s plan, which might be different than what I envision for myself. Since I have the ability to know the mind of Christ, I can know His plan, but I must have patience as He works it out in my life.

Letting God prepare me for His plan also helps me learn patience. I may think I’m ready for God’s plan but not be. Moses thought he was, but God had to put Moses on the backside of a desert for many years before he was ready to meet the king and tell him to free God’s people.

Patience entails being obedient to God where He has placed me until He decides to move me. When I try to change my circumstances, I’ll mess it up every time.

Impatience is conquerable if you rely on God to help you beat it.

Tweetable: Don't let impatience get the best of you. 

Prayer: Father, we ask You to develop patience in our lives by whatever means You choose. 

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Lessons from a Waiting Room - Martin Wiles

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NLT

Important lessons can be learned in waiting rooms.

My wife and I have been frequent flyers at the local emergency room lately. We visited for my wife because of unexpected fluid gain and abdominal pain. Her last visit led to a brief stay in the hospital. My visit was due to a minor bleeding issue.

Although we learned some lessons from waiting in the emergency room, both of us agree we are sick of going there. But I don’t have to visit an emergency room or even a doctor’s office to experience the benefits of waiting. Life is filled with waiting rooms of various sorts. It was when the psalmist wrote the above words.

In life’s waiting rooms, I’ve learned things don’t often happen as quickly as I wish. This predicament develops what the psalmist calls patience—a worthy virtue but not one that’s always enjoyable to develop. A typical emergency room stay in our small town is four hours. As much as one hour in the waiting room itself and then three more waiting on doctors and nurses to do what they are going to do.

Waiting rooms have taught me life is unfair. When I see people who don’t have and can’t afford insurance. When I see people who’ve been abused by others or who’ve had crimes committed against them. And when I see people addicted to drugs who are making a visit to get a pain fix. Or when I see bodies mangled by wrecks.

Waiting rooms develop compassion in me. When I see and hear about the various conditions that bring people in for emergency care, my heart reaches out to them. I wish I could intervene. I thank God for His grace that has kept me from being in a similar situation.

In the waiting room, I learn unfortunate situations often get better. Yes, some die in the emergency room, but many more are tended to in a way that eventually leads to their healing. Trials have an end, and God determines it.

Waiting rooms also remind me I affect only a few of my life events. God, however, controls them all, and I must trust Him with the trial, the length of the trial, and the outcome.

When life puts you in the waiting room, take time to learn important life lessons.

Prayer: Father, give us the faith to trust You when You allow us to spend time in the waiting room. 

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