Wait? You Say Wait??

As so often happens, more times than I care to count, God speaks to my heart, encouraging me to share what he’s been teaching me, so I sit down and write in the hopes that others will benefit from what I have learnt, only to find, in the next 24 hours, I am tested on the very thing I’ve written about.

I suppose it’s like praying for patience and the Lord sending trials. It’s unwanted, but necessary.

Well, only yesterday I wrote on the subject of God increasing strength instead of removing the pressure. And yes, once again, I’m being tested.

The pressure is stronger today, the trial harder, the spirit of fear welling up inside and the overwhelming desire to cry buckets of tears in frustration.

But still God encourages me to wait on him. It has definitely been a season of waiting that God has us in at present. Never before have we felt so uncertain of his will and unsure of the next step we need to take. The questions roll off our tongues so easily and the answers lie dormant, hidden from our view.

In working through writing out the book of Ephesians, I had come to chapter 3, and God gave me a promise that happens to be one of my favourites. What a blessing it was to be reminded of it on this very day when everything looked so dark.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

What a beautiful promise to know that God is able to do so much more than we ask and so much more than we even think! It’s unfathomable that God in his goodness and love, sees us in our troubles and reaches down to bless us and fill our cups to overflowing.

In looking at our current situation, I don’t see how it can be fixed. But I am so glad that God knows all about it and he has the answers. It’s my job to trust and wait on him. The things I know about my God don’t change and his love for me is everlasting, so I know that he has a plan in all this, and he has a way out. I just have to wait on his timing.

I decided to read over some old posts of mine, as I often need to preach to myself once again the things he has showed me in the past. I often need to give myself a stern talking to and remind myself of the beautiful promises in his Word. In my searching, I came across a beautiful poem that I just have to share. I felt as if God and I were having this very conversation. I pray that it will speak to your heart as it has spoken to mine.

Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, He replied.

I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait.”

 

“Wait? You say wait??” my indignant reply.

“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why.

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

 

“My future, and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me ‘wait’?

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,

Or even a ‘no’, to which I can resign.

 

“And Lord, you have promised that if we believe,

We need but ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:

“I’m weary of asking: I need a reply!”

 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”

So I slumped in my chair; defeated and taut

And grumbled to God; “So I’m waiting, for what?”

 

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine

And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,

Raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

 

“All you see I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

 

“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust, just by knowing I’m there.

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me,

When darkness and silence was all you could see.

 

“You would never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

 

“The glow of My comfort late in the night;

The faith that I give when you walk without sight;

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

 

“And you never would know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’

Yes, your dreams for that loved one o’ernight could come true,

But the loss! if you lost what I’m doing in you!

 

“So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all….is still…wait.”

                                                                      By Russell Kelfer