Just let me finish

Hands up anyone that is impatient.

Yeah, me too.

Waiting has never been my strong point. Ask any member of my family, and they will heartily agree. I am happy to say though, that God has been working in my heart in the past few years and I think I am getting better at being able to wait. Not just in general, but especially in the area of waiting on God.

Waiting can feel so hard, especially in a culture where everything is geared toward instant gratification.

We expect fast food, express post, instant answers to texts, call backs within the hour and so on.

And we roll this over onto our expectations of God. We expect instant answers to our prayers and the requests we make to God.

I have often been guilty of interrupting my husband as he explains some new scheme he’s come up with, or a new business venture idea, because I don’t like the direction the conversation is going and I’m sure it’s not going to end how I want it to, only to have him utter four small, but very powerful words. “JUST LET ME FINISH”.

My impatience gets the better of me, my struggle to wait rears its ugly head and I react.

And yet, if I had just let him finish, I would have had the full story, the entire plan, and maybe I would have had more understanding and been able to respond instead of react.

Or maybe it’s your children that illustrate this better. How often do you find yourself preparing something for them, whether it’s food, or a craft idea, or maybe you’re just hanging a load of washing and you’re being pestered by their impatience? And you say those words, “Just let me finish.”

You know, I think this is how we treat God at times.

We pour out our hearts to him, longing for him to act, and then we impatiently stamp our foot at the silence. All the while he is saying, “Child, just let me finish.”

A phrase I have come across in the Bible regularly is, “How long”. I did a quick search and found around 13 verses that ask this question directly of God.

Here’s just a few.

Psalm 6:3 KJV - My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?

Psalm 13:1-2 KJV - How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 35:17 KJV - Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

Often, we despair of God’s ever answering our prayer. We pour out our hearts to the Lord, offering our frustration, fear, anger and hurt.

Psalm 142:1-2 KJV - I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.

Just like the Psalmist, we lament and cry aloud. And we ask, “How long, O Lord, how long?”

Can I encourage you that waiting is not a waste of time. It is an investment of time.

Why do I say this? Because of this verse (and many others).

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

Waiting is an investment of time because while we wait, he strengthens our heart. Did you see that? God is strengthening our hearts while we wait!

When God says, “Just let me finish” and we let him finish, we let him do the work he started out doing, all the while waiting, trusting and hoping, with a right attitude and a humble spirit, he is able to bring about the blessing we didn’t know we needed.

Yes, God calls us to pour out our honest, heartfelt pleas just as the Psalmist did long ago, but he wants us to wait and let him finish. He wants to quiet our hearts, still our restless souls and bring peace as he reveals to us his goodness, power and love.

The Word of God tells us that good things come to those who wait. And God is good to those who seek him.

Lamentations 3:25 KJV - The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

And we are told that we can’t even imagine what God has in store for us when we wait on him.

Isaiah 64:4 KJV - For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

What do we do while we wait? We remember who he is and what he has done in the past and we trust the silence.

God works in the dark moments. He works in the quiet. He works amid the chaos. He hasn’t forgotten you in the past and he won’t forget you in the future.

We bring our hard questions to God and don’t let the unexplainable, unfathomable, impossible things drive us away from him.

We remind ourselves that God’s plan is part of a bigger plan, and his answer is part of a bigger picture that we can’t see from our perspective.

We trust that he is working even when we can’t see it.

We anchor ourselves in who he is and let the truth we know strengthen our faith.

We trust his answer and his perfect timing.

 

In the waiting, we remember.

In the waiting, we hold onto hope.

In the waiting, we build our trust in him.

In the waiting, we let him strengthen our heart.

 

And in the waiting, we just let him finish.

 

Psalm 37:7a KJV - Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him:

 Isaiah 40:31 KJV - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.