Positive Symptoms of a Waiting Season

I don’t know about you, but I am impatient.

After running my phone down to one percent battery life, I plug it in and want it to be immediately charged.

I get frustrated when a webpage takes longer than .001 seconds to load.

I seriously would rather use the microwave than wait for the oven to heat up.

You’re going slow in the left lane . . . we’re probably not friends anymore.

Those chip cards? Forget it.

What is your next plan for me, God?

Our human mind set is always in a rush, moving to the next big thing. This carries over into our spiritual lives as well. We’ve all realized at some point that God never seems to be in a hurry. The problem with waiting is that we seem to have it all figured out. We think we’re ready.

Come on, God, hit me with the next thing already! 

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. -2 Peter 3:8 (ESV)

We have to remember that our time is not God’s time and His timing is perfect. How selfish are we when we want God to move in our time frame? Our selfishness may be exactly why God has us wait.

We have to trust God is making us wait for a good reason.

While you’re waiting, here are five good things that will manifest in your life:

1. Your patience will build.

If we can’t wait for God to do small things in our lives, how are we ever going to wait for God to do bigger things in our lives? Our thinking is skewed. We tend to think that big things are our finances or possessions - tangible things. But big things to God are relationships and changing people’s lives.

2. Anticipation grows.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. -Habakkuk 2:3 (ESV)

Remember Christmas as a child when you counted down the days until you could open your gifts? Christmas morning was always exciting because of the built up anticipation. When Christmas morning went above our expectations, we were filled with delight when we received beyond expectations. We are more appreciative when we have to wait longer, when there is more anticipation. The wait will make it worth it.

3. Your motives will be tested.

Waiting can bring out the best and worst in people. People with poor values and bad motives won’t wait very long. They’re not interested in commitment or a relationship and only want short term success.

4. Your character will shape.

But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. -Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)

Waiting has a way of shaping us and rubbing our rough edges off. Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush (Acts 7:30). Moses waited 40 years in a desert for God to speak. During this time, God transformed his character. When Moses was young, he was angry and impatient. He killed a man and it became public. He was exiled to the desert where he then built His relationship with God (Exodus 2). God will transform your life just as he did with Moses.

5. You will learn to depend on the Lord.

Waiting in the difficult times develops your relationship with Him. Look at all the men and women in the Bible. They all learned that their success in life was directly related to their dependency and relationship with Christ.

For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him. -Ecclesiastes 8:6 (ESV)

In the end, it’s a process. God loves the journey just as much as the destination. We may not understand this waiting but God doesn’t ask us to wait without Him.