Can you wait well?

What does it mean to wait well?  And how long does the Lord expect us to wait on Him?

I have been waiting on fhe Lord for almost 30 years for one of my prayers to be answered.  Another, over 10 years.

The fact that these particular prayers haven't been answered yet doesn't mean that God doesn't hear me or care.  

So what's the hold-up?  Is it me?  Doesn't God see how His answering these prayers would make life better for me?  Because in my mind, they would exponentially improve my life.

But then my mind is limited.  God's mind is unlimited.

God is always at work in our lives.  Doing what?  Yes, answering our prayers is one way.  But it is not the only way He is working for us.  

What happenes to our faith when our prayers go unanswered for a very long time?  Does it strengthen as we persist in believing God no matter what?  Or does it lessen because we don't see the answers come to fruition yet?

Whether our faith gets stronger or fades is up to us.  Faith is the gift of God.  Not from God, but of God.  

So if we choose to not have faith any more, we are rejecting God Himself.  

It's easier to say, Why bother?  It's much harder to persevere when we don't see the outcome we have been praying so long and fervently for.  

So while we are waiting for God to work out His will in how, when, or even if He answers our prayers, can we wait well?  And what does that look like?

Trusting God.  Resting in God.  Realizing that His timetable is nowhere near our perception of time and how "long" things take.  

When we read of how many years it took for the Lord to use Moses, it's easy to read 40 years and think nothing of it.  After all, he was Moses.  

What about our Lord Himself?  God prepared Him for 30 years.

Old Testament Joseph languished in prison for 14 years or more, yet he really waited his entire life to see God's dream for him come true.  He was just a boy when God showed him His plan for him. 

What happened to Joseph and Moses during their "waiting" period?  Spiritual growth.  Dependence on God.  Trust in God.  Death to selfish ways and desires.  Maturity.  Seeing God more for who He truly is than who they thought He was.

In our youth-obsessed culture, which, by the way, carries over into the church culture, we don't value age and waiting and maturity as God does.  

Yet time and again we see in Scripture that God used what we would call "old" people to carry out His will.  

What does this say about God?  And can we get on board with His way of seeing life, age, waiting, and so on?

Who cares what anyone else thinks or what they think they know?  When God is Lord over a person's life, anything can happen at any time.  And that "time" is for God to determine, not us.

So while we wait on the Lord for Him to answer our prayers, for Him to use us for His Kingdom in greater ways, can we wait on Him in trust and faith?  If not, then (sorry) He will just have to take even longer until He gets what He is getting at all along - the fruit of faith in our lives, spiritual maturity, and trusting Him no matter what.  All of these are what really matter to Him - more than an answered prayer, more than a "ministry" that we might do for Him.  Because if we receive answers to our prayers, or build a ministry without the gold of maturity in our lives, then what good are the answers and the outward stuff?  

God cares about our hearts.  Period.

He wants our hearts filled with Himself.  He wants our hearts full of trust in Him, peace, and love.  And until we allow Him to do these things in our hearts, He is not obligated to answer our prayers if they will do more harm than good.

It would be like you giving your 6-year old a car for his birthday just because he asked you for one.  Too soon!  And he wouldn't be able to handle it.

God knows exactly when to provide, deliver, and heal - which is what all of our prayers boil down to.  We either ask for provision, deliverance, or healing in one way or another of our Lord

And, being the perfect Father, He loves giving us good gifts!  But...wait for it...only when He knows we are fully ready to receive them.

So let's wait well, friends, knowing that we serve an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God who wants the very best for us; the only One who truly knows when we are ready for His answers.

Oh Lord.  10, 20, or even 40 years seem like an eternity to our flesh.  Help us see things from Your perspective.  When we feel like life and time are fleeting by with our lifelong prayers still unanswered, help us trust You to know if and when the best time is for Your provision.  And Lord, if any of our prayers and desires are not in our best interest, then change our hearts to want what You want for our lives.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.