God's Growing Garden: What Happens While We Wait?

Sunday, September 28, 2014

What Happens While We Wait?

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What Happens While We Wait?

So many times throughout Scripture God encourages us and even commands us to "wait upon the Lord" - to wait upon Him. Waiting is one of the most difficult things for a modern person to do don't you agree?

Other words from the Thesaurus that mean the same thing as wait: remain, linger, stay & stop. These simple verbs are very powerful and since God's timing is not our timing; waiting on the Lord can seem like an eternity to us. However, waiting on the Lord is worth every second.

What happens while we are waiting for God?

1. Peace - often, after days or weeks of waiting on the Lord (by praying and studying His Word) - suddenly you will feel this rush of peace flow through you. It doesn't matter what the subject or issue is - God's peace transcends all understanding.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phillippians 4:7

2. Courage - maybe it took that time while we are "waiting on the Lord" for God to build up our courage to do whatever it is that we were struggling with or whatever we were fearing.

3. Guidance- comes through the urgings of the Holy Spirit; God will guide you according to His plan. How else can you pay attention to those urgings unless you are quiet & listening to Him by spending time in God's Word & through prayer.

4. Understanding- this is a little like "guidance" but we don't always have to understand what God wants us to do- that's part of faith - believing & doing what we can't see (and what we don't always understand at the time). Sometimes God will want us to act without understanding (that's guidance). However, there are those times when "understanding" is necessary and comes before action. Again, this will come during that "wait" time.

5. Character- building character takes time and happens while we "wait upon the Lord". This "character" might be vital to whatever God's plans are for our future.

".....we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Romans 5:3 & 4

6. Repentance - While waiting on God - He might be working on our conscience and it might take us some time to admit and repent of whatever sin that might be getting in the way of doing God's Will. We won't be able to see the way through and move on until we repent and that takes time.

All 5 of these will ultimately build our strength - "be strong and take heart"

"but those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31