Waiting

Waiting

      How many of us have wondered why God doesn't answer some prayers?  You know, the ones about getting that new home, or curing a sickness, or saving a person, or getting a job, or whatever it is.  I have sometimes found myself bewildered that God doesn't open the eyes of someone lost in a cult, especially when all the evidence and truth are right there in front of him.  Then there is the time when we have a sick loved one and we ask the Lord to heal and the healing either comes or doesn't come quickly.  Sometimes, medicine is needed and much time.  In each situation we have to wait to see what happens, to learn how the Lord has worked it out, to find out the method of His answer. 
     Noah had to wait 120 years while building the ark before the word of the Lord would be fulfilled. Abraham had to wait until old age before Sarah gave birth to Isaac.  The Israelites had to wait hundreds of years to be delivered from Egypt.  Ruth had to wait patiently for the Lord to provide Boaz to marry her.  David had to wait until after Saul had died and the Lord had placed Him as king.  The woman with the issue of blood had to wait 12 years to be healed by touching Jesus' garment.  Jesus had to be born, grow, and wait until the age of 30 before he could begin His ministry and fulfill the predetermined plan of God (Acts 4:27-28).  God has a plan and a purpose and they are worked out in lives, in history, in time.  Therefore, we have to wait for the Lord to provide for our needs, healings, and hopes.  We must be patient and not give up hope.  God is patient.  God has a plan in your life and the lives of others. 
     Waiting is a virtue.  Its durability is directly related to its object of faith.  If you trust the Lord and His goodness and if you believe that the Lord will provide what you need, then waiting for His answer and provision is an act of faith.  Remember, faith is only as good as who you place it in.  But, also remember that you must pray for God's will to be done, not your own.  This is what Jesus prayed for in the Garden (Luke 22:42).
     This Easter is the proof of God's love for you.  The fact that Jesus has physically risen from the dead (John 2:19-21; 1 Cor. 15:1-4) is proof that God loves you and has provided for you.  Even as Jesus had to wait three days to be raised, so too you must wait the appropriate length of time for the Lord to raise in you the work He has called you to do.  You must wait for the answers to your prayers.  But, you can patiently wait on God trusting that He loves you and wants the best for you. 
     So, labor patiently for the Lord.  Pray always.  Keep believing despite the circumstances and in spite of the long periods of time that sometimes wane between the request and the answer.  Wait in faith knowing that the call of God will come as well as the answers to the questions of your heart.