When God says ‘WAIT’

Oh how hard it is when you desperately desire something and God says wait.

Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (ESV)”

Sometimes years go by before the Lord says that we can have what we have been desperately asking for.

Abraham and Sarah were one of many. Genesis 18:10-15 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Sarah laughed because she had been waiting for a child; longing for a child for many years. Abraham waited even longer. I can not imagine waiting 70 plus years. Our culture is so entangled with the desire for instant gratification that waiting even one year feels like a lifetime. Isn’t that why debt is so much more appealing? You get what you want now, and pay for it later.. 

Yet when Abraham and Sarah waited patiently for the Lord as Isaiah says in Isaiah 30:18 “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” (ESV) They truly were blessed! Genesis 17:16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Not only did their patience bring about a son in their old age, but a father of nations, of kings. God blessed them so much for their patience, even though it was not perfect.

Consider poor Hannah, begging the Lord in tears and desperation on the temple floor. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.

How long do I have to sit in this agony before you Lord God consider it my time? Before you believe I am ready for this gift I have been asking for? 1 Samuel 1:10.

How many of us give up hope! Some have to wait, 10 maybe 20 years before their dream is realised. And only after the time of waiting do they see through the fog of time and healing that truly now was the moment God had been telling you to wait for. 

I wonder how many of us whisper prayers like David?

“Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” Psalm 33:20-22 (ESV)

Jesus lived 30 years patiently waiting for his ministry to start. I cannot imagine him as a twenty year old, knowing he has ten years to live a normal life before entering the first chapters in his ministry, knowing that it would lead to his death and then resurrection. Luke 3:23

Waiting for his return has so far taken thousands of years. Of waiting for a perfect world, a world of gold and peace, happiness and of sorrows long forgotten. All kinds of things may happen to us in this life but we are to be patient as we wait for Jesus to return. 1 Peter 3:13-15

Just as God fulfilled the promises He made to Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Hannah, Moses and many others. He will fulfil His promise to you. But it must be the right timing. As Ecclesiastes says “there’s a time for everything.” And perhaps that time may even be in heaven. 

But we must not waste our time waiting around for God to do His work. Jesus calls us to the battlefield, He calls us to serve those around us. It is a good distraction I think while waiting for your prayers to be answered. To work hard serving those around you, and it brings Glory to the Lord our God.

So let us love as 2 corinthians 13:4-8 calls us to love “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

And to serve the way Jesus calls us to serve: ‘When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” John 13:12-17

The age the Levites began to serve in the temple was also 30. Numbers 4:47. We seem to live in a time where the youngest of teenagers ache to be as busy as an adult or adults expect their children to behave like adults as soon as they become teenagers. Perhaps we all need to slow down, expect only what our own capabilities can manage and stop the toxic comparison game.

When the time is right. God will answer your prayers. But perhaps we must be prepared for a no. That is why serving God wholeheartedly as Ron spoke of is so rewarding https://mamabythewater.com/2025/01/16/wholehearted-joy-part-2/. Claim spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection.

You may realise after many years that what you asked for was the wrong thing to beg for in the beginning. Or through growing up you find your prayers have taken a different direction.

Sometimes waiting patiently is the best thing we can ask for. Joseph had to wait 13 years after being betrayed by his brothers before he became ruler over Egypt. Genesis 41:46 

Joseph always lived by faith trusting that God would bring good out of evil and that His plan and purpose for saving His people would be fulfilled.

I wonder if he ever sat, steaming in anger at what they did to him, ruminating on how he could get home. Perhaps in the beginning of his slavery Joseph’s prayer was simply to go home to his Dad.

But by working diligently and serving others well he found God gave him so much more than what he could have dreamed. The joy he felt when he found his family again after so many hard years of slavery! Gen. 50:19-21. But he had to wait for it. And he had to wait a long time. Even then he continued to believe in God’s promise to the Israelites, so much that even when Joseph was about to die he believed that God would keep his promise to give Israel the land he promised – so he made the request that his bones accompany them. Joshua 24:32 

Be patient! God is hard at work in your life, you might not be able to see it just yet.

We ask God to strengthen our faith and grant us patient endurance as we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness and pray ‘Your will be done’ which is also going to bring testing and sufferings John 21:18,19