But I CANNOT Wait PATIENTLY
Written by Sarah Ann E.

Waiting patiently. BOY, that is hard, and I am sure every last one of you will agree with me. Normally we say, “I want patience, Lord, and I want it NOW.” WOW! That is a good sign that we REALLY need the Lord to keep us in the school of patience. The Lord will keep us there until we learn patience in HIS sense of the word. I am sure that each one of us can honestly say that we are impatient, maybe not as much with others, but with the Lord. We want to have that job; we want to be married; we want to have perfect health; and we want to have all these things and more NOW. We live in a world that wants everything now, and we sometimes think that the Lord needs to give us things NOW too. This is NOT true.

Imagine that you had a child always demanding to have that toy now, to have a snack now, to play now, to go outside now, to buy that thing for him now. What would you want to do with that child? My first thought would be to withhold all those things from him till he calmed down and patiently asked for it. If he was always demanding things, then I would withhold some things that I would have given to him if he was not so impatient. He would need to learn that I knew the best time to give what he asks for. Just think of it from God’s perspective now. He would want us to be taught patience and He may have to withhold things from us to get our attention and teach us the lesson.

Normally we would get bitter at God for not granting our requests. You plead, “Lord, I have prayed in faith that You would grant this, but you have not answered. WHY?” The Lord knows why, and He does not have to tell us all the reasons. It is our job to wait patiently.

The Lord has been putting me through a very intense course on patience since I had a car accident injury over 17 months ago. I have not been able to live a normal physical life since then. Yet the Lord has given me the grace and joy through this time of waiting on Him. Now, I have to say that it all has been a happy time. I have had many times of great discouragement, ready to give up everything. I am not only waiting on Him to heal me, but waiting to do so many things that I love to do and cannot because it would hurt me. But the Lord is using this time of waiting to teach me SO many lessons—some are little and some are big. I can say that I am thankful for that time of waiting and that that time is still not over. I am not totally better, but the Lord has been good through it all.

Take your time of waiting to learn more of your dear Father who planned this waiting time in your life. Spend much time digging into His word and learning more about His character. Spend much time in fervent prayer before Him both for yourself and for others. The Lord has planned this time of waiting in your life so that you will run to Him and pour out your heart before Him. He wants you close to His heart. He knows how He wants to grow you through waiting.

“In His Word, He has often warned us to wait, to be careful, and to trust Him. He will not make us wait. His heart of love begs us to listen and obey so He may bless us and the dear ones who will one day look to and follow us. You must choose to waiti patiently for God’s best. If you have seen patterns in your life that show lack of patience, commit yourself right now to waiting for God’s best.”

Being patient is hard, but if you jump ahead of God’s timing you are going to have a harder time. “Patiently rest against His chest. He will bring you the peace you need. This attitude of patience is not something that will just happen. By an act of your will you must choose to trust God regardless of what happens. Patiently wait for His best.”

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