While in the Waiting Room

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and for the Lord." Psalm 27:13

Wow. I don't even know how to fit all of my thoughts and feelings into one measly little blog right now. As a matter of fact, I know there is no way that I could. God has really been stirring up a lot in me lately. The current issue at hand, waiting. My heart seems to shudder at this word. In the Psalms above, it is so easy for me to rest and rely on the first half. "I will see the goodness of the Lord". That, I can cling to. That makes my heart soar and my spirit rejoice. It is the second part I have an issue with, "Wait for the Lord". My human impulsive, impatient flesh groans in contempt when I hear the word "wait". As humans, we are designed to not want to wait. We want things now, as soon as the desire is placed in our hearts and minds. Could you imagine for one moment if we jumped at every desire as soon as it entered our souls. But this isn't the point I want to make. The point is not what happens when we don't wait. I have heard sermon upon sermon about waiting for God's timing. I know all the reasons why we wait. I know that God honors waiting. I know that waiting is obedience and its for our good. It doesn't make waiting any easier to know these thing though. What I do not know however, is how to wait well. I mean, seriously think about it. What is the point of waiting if we are going to constantly be miserable and groaning the whole time. What is the point of waiting if God only hears complaints and hints of bitterness, which you must admit we all have at some point during our wait. Now, I know God can handle our complaints and whining. But just because He can, why should He have to? The one thing that I want the most on the earth, apart from the Lord, is a husband. God has placed this desire in me since I was born basically. It has never left me, not even for one day. I have even prayed it away on several occasions, begging the Lord if He had no intentions on bringing me a husband then I was fine with that, just please take the desire away. Well, needless to say the desire is still here and the husband is not. So yes, I know I am meant to get married. I have no doubt in my mind about that. When I pray for a husband and get discouraged it is not because I don't believe there is one out there for me, it is because he is not showing up soon enough. I AM WEARY OF WAITING! God hears that far to often out of my mouth. So how do we wait well? Because it is in the waiting well that God longs to be "gracious to us, to show compassion on us, to Bless those who wait on Him" Is. 30:18. If you have children or have been around children, you know what I am talking about. When they want something there is two ways they go about it: 1.) asking politely and 2.) repetitively whining and demanding NOW NOW NOW. You say hold on just a second yet they continue to beg. It becomes down right annoying. You almost don't want to give them what they are wanting out of spite. That is how I feel like we sound to God, simply annoying. We act like He is withholding this one thing from us out of spite. We ask repeatedly like He didn't hear us the first time. Now don't misunderstand me, it is okay to pray for the same thing constantly. The word says "pray without ceasing" 1Thessalonians 5:17. So yes, don't quit praying for something that means a lot to you. What I am suggesting however, is how you pray for it. The word says "Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4. Matthew 12:34 says "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Our desires are placed in our hearts by God when we first delight in Him. When we dedicate our lives, joy, and happiness to the Lord, for the Lord, He puts desires for good things in our heart. Therefore, whatever our desires or "request" are come from how we feel about the Lord. If we are content, joyful, and excited about the Lord then our mouth sends our requests out in this way to the Lord. He hears our desires as confident, expectant, faithful and joyful. Who wouldn't want to bless that? The problem exist when our hearts have grown weary of the wait. Our request are denied when they are sent out with bitterness hanging on, doubt and anxiousness. We are not delighting in the Lord when are doubtful, discouraged and impatient. Those things are not from God at all. Matthew 21:22 says "If you believe you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." According to Strong's concordance believe means to stand firm, be confident in, to in trust. This is how we should present our request, with confidence KNOWING that God will give us the desires of our hearts because that is what He has promised. We should stand firm in our hope KNOWING that what we have asked may linger but we will "wait for it; it will certainly come and WILL NOT DELAY" Habakkuk 2:3. The waiting part shouldn't even be the issue. Waiting is a part of life. We so easily wait in lines at restaurants because we KNOW that we will eventually get fed. We so easily and patiently wait for our next hair appointment because we have no doubt that we are indeed going to get our hair done. So what makes waiting on the Lord so much harder when He delights in giving us the desires of our heart. What He gives is "far better than anything we could imagine or think up on our own: Ephes.3:20 The way we wait and wait well is by pressing into God. Seeking His word to grow deeper in our knowledge of Him. We wait well by rejoicing in every moment that we walk with our Savior. We focus on the giver and not the getting. I believe when we can reach this point, that is when the Lord will say "well done good and faithful servant" and in turn He will then joyfully give us the desires of our heart. The desire that He has so graciously put there waiting for the moment He could romance us with them. So remain confident in this, you WILL see the goodness of the Lord. In the meantime be strong, confident, hopeful and let your heart stand firm and rejoice in the Lord. Wait for Him to come to you and display His glory for all to see. When the Lord brings you your desires they will be "sweeter than honey" to your mouth. Wait well beloveds. It will be well worth every second when you see the hand of the Lord upon you.