Even in a person not prone to depression, delays fuel discouragement.  For those of us susceptible to despondency, waiting for something important can exacerbate the condition. Here’s a revised version of an article I wrote years ago that has been tucked away in the “Other Topics” section of my website archives, so it is probably not one you’ve read.  In her faithfulsparrow.com blog, Christine Chappell  recently published a  different version of my article.

While we’re waiting on God to act, what can we do?

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Puzzling.

Frustrating.

Gut-wrenching.

When we’re waiting on God to act, those words describe us. We may be waiting for provision of a new job; for God to woo a grown child back to faith; for Him to open the womb for a baby desperately wanted, or to bless us with a wife or husband.

From my experiences and from God’s Word, here’s what I’ve learned to do while waiting.

 

Keep on praying.

Yes, when God has repeatedly answered with silence, this is easier said than done.  But I keep praying because Jesus commanded us to do it.

In a text where Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He emphasized persistence (Luke 11:1-13).  He employed a verb tense calling for repeated, ongoing action.  “Everyone who keeps asking, receives; and he who keeps seeking, finds; and he who keeps knocking, it shall be opened” (verse 10, translation mine).

 

Study the lives of Bible characters who waited on God for a long time.

Abraham (Genesis 12-21)  waited twenty-five years for God to give the promised heir through Sarah.

Joseph (Genesis 39-41) unjustly languished in jail for more than two years before God catapulted him to prominence and his administrative destiny was fulfilled.

Twenty-five years passed between Samuel’s anointing of David to be king, and David’s ascension to the throne in Judah (1 Samuel 16–2 Samuel 2).

Take a close look at their stories.  What did God accomplish in their lives while they waited?  Their stories reveal the truth of V. Raymond Edman’s remark:  “Delay never thwarts God’s purpose; it merely polishes His instrument.”

 

Camp out in biblical texts where the theme of waiting surfaces.

Among my favorites:  Psalm 13, 27:13-14, 62:1-8; Lamentations 3:22-25.  As you read, jot down answers to these questions:

What traits of the Lord do these passages cite?

What effect should awareness of these traits have on my faith?

What do these verses suggest I do while I wait?  (Look for what the texts illustrate and imply, not just what authors directly state.)

 

Remember God’s past faithfulness.

What instills the faith needed for current stressors, including delays?   It is exerting intentional effort to remember specific prayers God has answered, and how you grew spiritually through past incidences of affliction. Faith expands by listing examples of His past intervention on your behalf.  How has He provided financially?  What relationships has He salvaged?  What has He done in your heart and character during past incidences of waiting?   Meditating on your past as a Christian pilgrim may fuel the faith you need for a present dilemma.

In Psalm 106:7-22, three times God lamented Israel’s forgetfulness of His past deeds for the nation. Psalm 145 repeatedly tells us not only to remember His past deeds, but to tell others about His acts of faithfulness.  Remembering and testifying shifts our focus from our current excruciating delay to who He is (and who He has been) for us.

 

Employ the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” during a devotional time.

Listen to a rendition of the hymn online.  Digest the lyrics from a hymnal. Ponder this question:  Which words/phrases in the lyrics mean most to me right now?  Why? Then sing the song back to God as an act of worship.  (This devotional works well for a family unit or small group, too.)

 

Express praise and gratitude to God for benefits associated with salvation.

Another way to identify reasons for praise is to examine Psalm 103 and Ephesians 1 for benefits associated with salvation.  Thank God for wooing you to himself, and giving you a secure identity rooted in Jesus’ work on the cross. As you express gratitude, mention specific instances when He intervened, or specific attributes of His for which you are grateful. Also thank God for specific blessings cited in these passages which resonate most with you right now.

What you are waiting for pales in comparison to what He has already done!

 

Ask the Lord to use your delay for a redemptive purpose.

As you wait, invite Him to expose areas in which you need to grow, to reveal hidden sins to confess and to abandon, and to show you meaningful avenues of service to fulfill.  When we’re in a waiting mode, we’re usually more teachable and more responsive to the Holy Spirit’s whispers.

In effect, you’re saying to Him, “Father, don’t waste this difficult delay.  Use it for my long-term benefit, to expand my service to others, and to enhance Your glory through my life.”

For an example of how delay radically expanded a person’s influence, rather than inhibited it, I’ll delve into church history.

 

The delay in fulfilling his calling was unexpected and frustrating. After years of intensive outreach in China, at age 29 Hudson Taylor returned to England, a furlough occasioned by poor health.  For five years He waited to return, all the while burdened by the spiritual darkness in China, where 30,000 died daily without hearing the gospel.

In a book, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets, his son James explained how those years of waiting tempered the steel of his father’s soul.  For periods of time in his London flat in a poor part of the city, Taylor and his family were “shut up to prayer and patience.”  Persevering prayer became a deeply-ingrained habit.  He experienced “the deep prolonged exercise of a soul that is following hard after God….the gradual strengthening of a man called to walk by faith, not by sight; the unutterable confidence of a heart cleaving to God and to God alone.”  As those years away from China progressed, when despondency assailed Hudson Taylor, “prayer was the only way by which the burdened heart could obtain any relief.”

Yet the value of the delay wasn’t restricted to cultivation of deeper faith through prayer.  When his health permitted, Taylor spoke in churches across the British Isles to promote the needs in China.  He helped translate the New Testament into a Chinese dialect.  He received medical training that he knew would come in handy in rural outposts of China.

Most significantly, during persistent bouts of prayer, God’s Spirit planted a vision within Taylor to expand outreach in China by launching a new sending agency.  In 1865, he founded China Inland Mission, which sixty-five years later became Overseas Missionary Fellowship.  In 1866, after raising enough funds to support a team of twenty-one workers, Taylor sailed back to China, where he labored forty-five more years.

Initially, poor health and years away from his beloved Chinese appeared nonsensical, a detour from God’s calling.  But over 150 years later, the missionary society he founded still penetrates unreached areas of the world with the gospel.  Rather than diminish his effectiveness, delay multiplied it.

Taylor learned that God never wastes time, and He never wastes experiences, in the lives of people who are consecrated to Him.

 

What would you add to this list of things to do while waiting?

If you’re currently in a time of delay, which of these suggestions do you most need to apply?

Memorize these texts on waiting:  Psalm 27:13-14 and Lamentations 3:22-25.  When delay agitates you, meditate on these verses.

 

In Terry’s book, Serve Strong:  Biblical Encouragement To Sustain God’s Servants, you’ll find two chapters on “The Discipline of Delay.”  The book provides biblical insights to instill resiliency for folks heavily involved in ministry.  Here’s a link to a description of the book’s content:

Serve Strong