The Agony of Waiting

"How long, O lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?"  Psalm 13:1

(As a reminder: The author of The Scars That Have Shaped Me is someone who has dealt with multiple traumas in her life: Hospitalized for years with polio, underwent repeated bullying from classmates, experienced multiple miscarriages, struck with massive grief after a baby son died as a result of a physician's error, abandoned by her husband, and even now is struggling with a progressive disease that has left her with very little muscle strength and is on her way to total paralysis.)

Risner's thoughts:  "Waiting can be agonizing. It's hardest to wait when I am uncertain about the outcome, when I'm trusting God for the best while preparing for the worst. It would be much easier if I had a guaranteed good outcome. Or at least a specific promise from God to hold onto, some reassurance to anchor my prayers. But God often seems silent when I'm waiting. I have no idea whether he'll ever answer my prayer, so it feels like I'm waiting in the dark.

"Perhaps God is making me - and you - wait for the same reasons that he made Abraham wait; to forge our faith. To make us attentive to his voice. To deepen our relationship. To solidify our trust. To prepare us for ministry. To transform us into his likeness.

"In retrospect, I realize that this is the most precious answer God can give us: wait. It makes us cling to him rather than to an outcome. God knows what I need; I do not. He sees the future; I cannot. His perspective is eternal; mine is not. He will give me what is best for me when it is best for me. As Paul Tripp says, 'Waiting is not just about what I get at the end of the wait, but also who I become as I wait. '"

Candy's thoughts: I don't know about the rest of you, but waiting is definitely NOT my forte. One of my recurring sins is impatience, whether I'm in a line at the grocery store, anticipating the next season of the year to begin, for a long awaited fun event to start, etc etc etc. Nothing is too small to trigger my annoyance. 😞

Ugh. I really should 'know' better. I've been reading the Bible for many years, so I've seen how God has ordained 'waiting' as a very important time in the lives of many of his servants. Think Job, Moses, Hannah, and the children of Israel in the wilderness. Waiting is often used by God to do exactly what Risner is suggesting: to draw us closer to himself. We need to pray that he would "make us cling to him rather than to an outcome." May God give us extra measures of patience as we wait upon his good and perfect will.