Impatient and listening to the wrong voices

A year and a half ago, I wrote on the subject of waiting. Waiting on God. We were going through a season of waiting on answers from God. A season of uncertainty. Confusion. Frustration.

The questions abounded and the answers were nowhere in sight.

Well, that season has not ended. I would like to preface that sentence with the words, ‘unfortunately, or sadly, or frustratingly’, but I know that it is not what God would like me to write or feel. I need to be saying, ‘God’s timing is always perfect, and he has seen fit to keep us waiting for a while longer, and so, this season has not ended.’

Yes, God has answered some of our prayers and we have had some leading in the direction we should take, but it’s never fast enough for me. I always want the answers a lot quicker than they come.

I am not a naturally patient person. I struggle with the waiting. In traffic, in the line at the supermarket, for bread to rise, for a cake to bake, for new ministries in the church to begin, for a text from a friend. But thankfully, God is patient, and he is longsuffering with me. I am slowly being taught to wait on him.

The Christian needs to learn to wait. Waiting on the Lord brings blessing. God is not in a hurry. He knows the end of the story. He knows how much time you have on this earth. He knows your deepest longings. He knows your struggles.

One of the things I find difficult in this time of waiting is listening to the right voices.

Who am I listening to?

As we go through this uncertain time in regard to our business and we struggle with the balance of home/work/church life, it’s easy to get distracted by the loudest voices.

There will always be someone who has something to say about any circumstance you’re going through and not always is it helpful or good advice.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe we need to seek wise counsel when we are unsure of the path we should take, but all too often we fail to take on the counsel of the most important voice. God’s voice.

Proverbs 11:14 KJV - Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

In my impatience, and desire for answers, I often listen to the wrong voices. Yes, those voices may speak out of love and concern, and they feel that they are right in the answers and advice they give, but are they listening to God’s voice before they speak?

We need to go to God first. With every decision. We are promised in the Word of God, that if we lack wisdom, all we need to do is ask of God and he will grant it. (James 1:5)

It is God’s voice that needs to be the voice we listen to. Often it is a still, small voice. It is a whisper to our heart and if we’re not careful, if we are not tuned in to his frequency, walking closely to him, we may just miss it.

The loudest voices get the most attention.

Not only do the loudest voices get listened to, they don’t know the situation like God does. They don’t know every minute detail, they don’t always understand what is going on in the background. But God does.

God is speaking and we need to listen.

We have to take the counsel of friends and see if it lines up with the Word of God. We need to exercise discernment.

But we also have to be careful that we don’t just go to the people we know will side with us and agree with our point of view on the subject.

God is not going to side with us if we’re wrong. He is going to give good counsel. Whether it is liked or not.

I need to speak to those of you who are impatient, as I am. There are many references in the Bible that stress the importance of patience.

2 Timothy 2:24 KJV - And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

James 5:8 KJV - Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

God is patient and if we desire to grow more like him, then it is something we need to strive for.

Now my husband is the most patient man I have ever met but because of this beautiful character trait, I can often feel frustrated with him. I know, sounds idiotic, right? The problem is that what I see as inactivity on his part, is actually patient waiting on the Lord. He has learnt to wait on the Lord. He has learnt to bring his burdens to the feet of Jesus, lay them down, and walk away.

I am forever laying them down, then dashing back to pick them up again. Turning them over and looking at them from every side, laying them back down, walking away, then running back to check on them again. And on and on it goes.

My dear, sweet husband is content to wait for the answers to his questions. He doesn’t feel the need to fret and worry. He is able to pray about it, ask for wisdom and then go about his business, fulfilling his calling until God gives further instructions.

God sure knew what he was doing when he put us together!

In the book of Ephesians, we read something amazing, wonderful and beyond belief!

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. Maybe not right away, maybe not as soon as we would like, but he will do it.

I am so glad that God knows all about my troubles and that 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.

Psalm 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

A few years back, I came across this beautiful poem. 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

By Russell Kelfer, copyright 1995

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.”