I’m not a very patient person by nature. I don’t like keeping or waiting on surprises. And you can ask my husband, when I get excited about a house project, I’m sitting in my car waiting to hit up Lowes because I want it done yesterday! Around my house, if I’m asking a question and I don’t hear an immediate response, I assume I wasn’t heard. Or worse yet, I assume I was ignored.
Foolishly, sometimes I carry that into my prayers. I pray expecting God to drop my request off on my front porch by the following morning... big bow on top and all. When my request goes unanswered, it’s easy to question if He heard. His silence isn’t the act of Him ignoring us. But why can I let myself feel like that’s what’s happening? He always hears, and He never ignores. He simply asks us to trust... to wait. His timing is in His control. The plan of our days was already written out before the creation of the world. God knows all and knows what He is doing. He isn’t Amazon Prime.
Daniel was crying out to God for understanding; asking God for wisdom and asking God to act. After a whole chapter of Daniel’s tears, God’s message came to him. "At the beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth..." -Daniel 9:23
At the beginning of his request, the answer was put into motion; not revealed, but forming.
Years later, Daniel found himself in another hard place. He was mourning and fasting, seeking a response... seeking relief. For three weeks he prayed and fasted... calling on God for a redemptive act and again, God’s message came to him. “...Fear not Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.” -Daniel 10:12
Daniel prayed. For three weeks he repented and worshipped and besought God. God heard and gave the command to fulfill his prayer. God moved, but he waited until His timing was perfect for the revelation and completion.
It’s in my best interest to wait. To wait on God is to wait for His perfect ending. To accept the silence as God’s “semicolon”, and not an act of turning His back and plugging His ears. In the waiting for the story He has written, (no matter what the pages contain) we are accepting the best ending... the glorification of God... the fruit of which we may not feast on until eternity.
How do I wait? Stand firm in the rain. God hears us. His commands are in place. He's just waiting for His timing. He has already answered.
Stand firm, remind your heart who your Author is, and worship as if He has answered... because He has.
Kate Foster
ARH Staff Writer
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