No Pain, No Gain - The Benefits of Waiting on God
Hope Discovery for the Day:
Our waiting is not in vain, but a tool used by the Master to prepare our hearts for where He is bringing us.
Scripture of the Day:
Proverbs 13:12
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life.”
Looking up at the clock, the seconds ebbed away, as if the day would last forever. I just wanted it to be over. The waiting dragged me down and it was almost impossible to hope. Waiting is hard and seems pointless to those in a capsule of time. But to the One Who created time, it is an important part of the process that He does not want us to bypass.
Character
I know, I know – ugh -cliché phrases about the character earned while waiting don’t comfort the soul that is holding onto hope for dear life. We find it hard to understand why God doesn’t just swiftly bring about our deep desire – it might even be a really good selfless desire – without all this waiting. Our character is transformed in the moments when we ponder our motivations and God’s provision. So much more worthwhile than just achieving our desire.
Gratitude.
It is in the waiting that we learn to appreciate what we long for. If things came easily for us, we would not value having our hope fulfilled. Once our desire is realized, we are more grateful if we had to wait than if we didn’t.
Perspective.
We are also more apt to give God praise than ourselves when we see that it was His hand, not ours, that fulfilled our longing. He gets all the glory and we discover that the thing we longed for doesn’t compare to knowing the One who provided it.
Instead of detesting waiting, maybe we could learn to appreciate it for what it produces in our lives. Sure, we can feel the very real hurt of longing, but we can also turn that into praise while we wait. We have no idea of the burdens or blessings to come, but while we wait, God is at work. This is the hope in waiting – our God is not inactive, but always working out His perfect plans in an imperfect world.
God has not forgotten that we are in the waiting room. He is in there with us. Carefully molding us into His image while we wait together. When we find ourselves in a place where we have waited and waited, then waited some more, our waiting is not in vain, but a tool used by the Master to prepare our hearts for where He is bringing us.
Lord, while we wait on You, help our hearts to trust in You. May we love You more than what we desire and know that all You do is for our good and Your magnificent glory.
