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October 6, 2008

Are You Willing to Wait

In Achieving the Impossible, Dr. Forrest wrote about several occasions when he had to wait for God’s answer to a pressing problem. No doubt he thought about how easily Jesus turned water in wine. Surely, providing for a financial need or insight into a pressing issue could not be as difficult as this.

Several times in the Gospels, Jesus admonished His disciples to wait. When His mother urged Him to perform the miracle of changing the water into wine, He replied, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). He did the miracle but He did not reveal His true identity because it was not the right time. When Lazarus became sick and died, Jesus was totally aware of His friend’s illness and death. Yet He did not go to Bethany to heal him. Lazarus’ sisters were broken hearted and livid at the same time. They were keenly aware of Christ’s ability, and they believed if Jesus had been there, He would have healed their brother.

Timing is everything to God. Move too quickly and you won’t witness Him working perfectly on your behalf. Refuse to go forward when He says to move, and you run the risk of missing His best.

In times of peril or frustration, it can be extremely difficult to wait and He knows this. Most of us are people of action. We want to get things done and we want to do it now. But so often God admonishes us to wait and be assured that His delays always have a purpose. Dr. Forrest knew many people who could have easily written checks for large sums of money—enough to take care of any debt the college had in the early years. Yet God made him wait on more than one occasion. Why? Because when we wait, we demonstrate our level of trust in a holy and omnipotent God.

By its very nature, waiting for God’s timing is an act of tremendous faith. In fact, it is faith in action. When you tell Him that you will not move an inch until He opens the right door and prompts you to go through it, you are saying, “Lord, I trust You with this situation and my entire life—every ounce of it.” When He sees this type of faith, He is moved to action but within His timing.

Another reason He wants us to wait is because He is preparing His best for us. If Jesus had rushed to Bethany and saved Lazarus, everyone there would have missed a greater miracle. God had something even better in mind. He raised him from the dead!

You have no idea of the power of the Person, who is in the boat with you. In the middle of a horrendous storm on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples finally gave up their positions at the oars and rushed to wake up the Lord. They honestly believed that they were about to perish; was He that unconcerned? Jesus was totally in step with them and the storm that had descended on their boat. Though it seemed He was asleep, His omniscience was fully awake and operational.

You may be facing a severe trial. You wonder what will happen next. You want to do something—anything—but sit and wait on God. Think it through. God is aware of your circumstances. He has a wonderful plan for your life. He loves you unconditionally, but you must be willing to wait in faith for Him to do what He needs to do so that you have His very best. Are you willing? If so, tell Him you will wait as long as it takes for Him to give you His best. When you make this type of commitment, He will send an abundance of encouragement your way.

Taken from the online book Grace in The Wilderness © 2008 tfchistory.com