Waiting Well

I tell my children (and myself!) that patience is waiting well and impatience is not waiting at all. Impatience is acting up because we do not have what we want when we want it. It is easy to tell children to wait well. As adults, do we justify a poor attitude towards waiting by elevating our needs and wants over God's standard? A child may be waiting for ice-cream and we may be waiting for healing but similar characteristics are required and developed through the waiting.

Remember, the waiting period usually does not get shorter because we have a bad attitude towards it. In fact, it feels longer and can actually be extended by our negativity and lack of patience. Waiting badly can cause us to make poor choices and damage relationships as we complain, lash out or speak negatively about our circumstances. Our words have power so impatience can be detrimental to our goals. Impatience can also cause us to miss what we are waiting for altogether. We may be too wrapped up in our emotions to notice that we have been given what we request.

Conversely, patience can bring about acceleration. When my children are waiting well, if I can and it is good for them, I might give them their request early. Their patience has honoured me. As their mum, I want to reward that. How much more our heavenly Father?

The kind of patience we are reflecting on is not our own; it is fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is also and act of faith. Many times we fall into impatience because we have not drawn on God's power to wait well. Fasting is an excellent way to exercise patience. We make our body and soul wait for what they desire and need as we focus on our spiritual connection with God.

Some things are incredibly difficult to wait for. The waiting process can be uncomfortable, hard, lonely, painful, or costly. Perhaps hardest of all, we may not understand why we must wait when what we desire is good. Bringing our waiting before God is crucial in these times. We may not get what we want but God is with us in the waiting. This is beautiful and beneficial. In Him we find the blessing of waiting and more strength to wait well.

Pause to identify what you are waiting for. Determine to wait well as you Write the Scriptures below:

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Psalm 37:7

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices

James 1:2-4

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Habakkuk 2:3

For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 5:2-4

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Romans 8:24-25

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

All Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) or English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

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