Embrace the Waiting

It’s been described in various ways. Dark night of the soul. Burn-out. Depression. Mid-life crisis, to name a few. These are times when we seem caught in an unending period of transition. When God is mostly silent. And our lives seem to have little purpose. We're not in control, we search for it, but can’t seem to find a way to end these lonely, frustrating times. So, we wait. Hoping that somehow, God will bring us out of them.

The good new is He will. He always does…in His time and His way.

"But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14 Deliver me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters."

Psalm 69:13-14

Wilderness times are difficult. The loss of control makes it seem like we have lost ourselves…or our way. And as scary as that feels the truth is that's not a bad thing. Because it's in these times of wilderness that our souls can be trained to rest in God alone.

Whether it is a “dark night” time in your life or an extended transition, don’t resist what God can and will do in your heart. Ask God for the grace to receive, even welcome, this difficult moment. Don’t fight the uncertainty instead, lean deeply into God to be changed and remade into the person God is creating you to be. In fact, it's in these moments where God cultivates the type of character that yields fruit. One day, the transformation God brought through those difficult times of waiting will have a great impact.

Remember the apostle Paul. Paul struggled greatly. His missionary journeys were hard, dangerous, often filled with people wanting to stone and kill him. More than that he had period of his life where he had a "thorn in his flesh." That thorn was something he wanted to rid of. He wanted to move past this moment of suffering, but it was in that time of suffering that God taught Him a deep and transformational truth.

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

It was in that period of suffering and quietness from God that Paul learned in his weakness God's power is seen more clearly. That time transformed him into a man willing to not only ENDURE hardships but "DELIGHT" in them. For he had learned "when (he) was weak, then (he) was (truly) strong."

If you're like most people are right now, WAITING FOR NORMAL TO RETURN, be encouraged. This season is a time to press deeply into God, learning to trust when we can't see. Learning to submit and face the unknown, when we want to run.

In life there are seasons of joy and season of pain. And the pandemic (no matter what you believe about it) has brought many changes to our world and to our individual lives. Almost everyone’s been affected in some way. One effect has been a dramatic increase in our need to learn how to wait.

EMBRACE TODAY

If you are around me at 8am, 9:38 am, and 2 pm each day, you'll hear an alarm go off on my phone. Each of those alarms are set to remind me, "If I live, I live for the Lord. If I die, I die for the Lord. So whether I live or die, I belong to the Lord." - Romans 14:8

I want to learn to embrace each day as an opportunity for God to remake me further into His image. Each day, no matter the problems that will come or the season I'm in, is a chance for my faith and trust in God to grow deeper and more solid.

I can't change all that I want to, but I can learn to trust God. I need to remember that when I gave my life to Christ, I really did give it to Him. It is not mine to pick back up. I have very little control over the greater future of my life. What I can do, when I feel overwhelmed or lost, is whisper the words, “I trust You. Your purposes are good. Father, I want Your will not mine. You are in control.”

And then, surrender.

God's response is that He gives me the grace to embrace that time of waiting with joy. Knowing that what God will produce in that moment of waiting will far outweigh any hardships I might have to endure.

Let me end by giving you 5 practical steps to learn how to submit to God during your season of waiting. (Also let it be known that I freely stole these 5 WONDERFUL tips from another blog by a missionary from Thailand!) I pray this encourages and blesses you as much as it has me.

How do you willingly submit to the season of waiting in your life?

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Ps. 39:7 ESV.

DON’T FIGHT THE WAITING BECAUSE…

1) GOD IS FORMING YOU.

God has access to you in unique ways in the waiting periods when you are not in control of your life. We want to become like Him. Yet we resist.

Our brokenness is exposed to His healing touch.

Would you ask a heart surgeon to rush an operation? Of course not! God is deeply at work in our inner beings. Stay still and let Him do what is needed for as long as it takes.

2) GOD IS TRAINING YOU TO TRUST HIM MORE DEEPLY.

The things God wants to release through you in the next season require a greater level of dependency on Him. We want to see greater fruit from our lives, but don’t like to let go of control. The more we let Him be in charge, the more powerfully He can use us. Choose to let God determine if you need to grow your trusting God muscles in this season, or your ministry skills.

3) GOD’S PURPOSES AND WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN YOURS.

We can trust Him because we know Him. His Word is true.

Isaiah 55:8 says, ““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Say it out loud – right now. “Your thoughts are nothing like mine Jesus. Your ways are far beyond what I can imagine!”

Do you believe that to be true? Sometimes we have to convince our own souls to believe the right things!

4) GOD’S CHARACTER AND PROMISES HAVEN’T CHANGED.

In the waiting times, we remind ourselves of His promises. We meditate on His character.

“He is good. He is faithful. He has called me to bear much fruit."

What has He personally promised you? Spoken to you about as far as your calling? Review and meditate on those things. Remember who He is. Times have changed but God has not.

5) THERE ARE BLESSINGS TO BE RECEIVED IN THE DESERT.

Jesus endured many things in the desert. Temptation, hunger, attack from the enemy. Yet when He came out of the desert, His ministry began with great anointing. Having gone through those trials and overcome them, there was new strength.

In wilderness seasons, I’ve found my walk with Jesus grows sweeter…more intimate. It’s as if the chaff has been burned off, and my soul purified afresh. The most powerfully transformative moments in my spiritual life have come in the deserts. Watch for it. Wait, but not in hopelessness.

WAIT in HOPE

(Eric back again)

One of my favorite songs by William McDowell is "I Give Myself Away." It is an anthem I often have to sing to myself to be reminded that it is only in giving myself away that I am truly safe. The lyrics go like this.

I give myself away I give myself away So You can use me I give myself away I give myself away So You can use me

Here I am Here I stand Lord, my life is in your hands Lord, I'm longing to see Your desires revealed in me I give myself away

May this be the anthem of your soul as well. In the times of waiting, may we wait for Him expectantly. Knowing that as we learn to submit to Him, He will cause us to be shaped into a people He can use.