A few things make us more irritated than having to wait we we don't like to wait
and yet waiting is an important part of life it's an important part of character
development there are some things that we only learn in waiting that we learn no other
way would you agree that every child has to learn the difference between no and not yet
they're not the same thing are they some of you right now are waiting on God you're in
God's waiting room you're waiting for God to open the door you're waiting for God to give you
a job opportunity you're waiting on God for an answer to prayer you're waiting for clarification
you're waiting for new direction you're waiting for God to remove a pain or heal a relationship
and you go I don't get this I've prayed and nothing's happened and there is a delay
remember no is not not yet we don't like to wait we live in a fast pace move them and
shake them grab them and get them world and we demand that technology make everything faster
because our time is so precious to us
we naturally equate waiting with wasting
and for us when we wait we wonder and we worry we have a tendency to think
that something must be wrong because when you wait obviously something is not going according to plan
because waiting is hard for us we live in a world that has conditioned us to want what
we want when we want it but yet we live with a God who demands we wait
it's hard to wait when you don't know how things are going to turn out it's hard to wait when you
don't know how it ends it's hard to wait when you don't know what God is up to truth be told if I've
got to wait too long two things start to happen in my life number one doubt creeps in and that word
if shows up I wonder if God is going to do this wonder if it's really gonna be all right
and when if shows up the second thing begins to happen and here's the one that's most dangerous
when I wait too long I'm tempted to just handle it myself
God it's taking too long and let me tell you that if you read scripture there's one thing it'll tell
you definitively that when you're waiting on God and you decide you're gonna handle yourself that's
when things go really really real really bad and that's a real word to somebody today because
you've been waiting a long time for things to change things haven't gone in your favor prayers
haven't been answered the clock is ticking it seems like everything is against you and you
come to church today on the verge of handling it all by yourself Lord I've been waiting but now I
gotta get them told Lord I've been waiting but now I'm gonna handle it Lord I've been waiting but now
I'm gonna put my hands on it and Lord I've been waiting but since you slowed up you're not doing
it enough time God you don't know what time it is I gotta handle it myself and so I came by to
ask you a question today I want you to answer this how long does God get before you fire him
how much time before you give God his pink slip how much time does God get before you terminate
him for not delivering on the contractual measurable objectives that you all agreed upon
when you contracted this thing called salvation you would pray you would come to church you would
tithe and God would answer your prayers and now here you are being religious faithful and holy
and God is not doing what you ask God to do so how long do you give God before you walk away from God
when you're waiting God is working you got to learn to give God time to finish his work while
you wait in your waiting God is not sitting idly by on the sideline of heaven just letting
time roll by we serve a God who while we're waiting on him he's working on it
why does God delay things when clearly he could answer
every prayer instantly well if you had every prayer answered you'd be a selfish little brat
because you treat God like a vending machine God I need this pull the trigger boom I got it instantly
and God sometimes has to work on you before he works on the solution when you have asked
God for something and it hasn't come yet and you're in that delay period where you
haven't seen the answer to your prayer what do you do remember there's a natural delay
between planting and harvesting there's a natural delay between planting and harvesting
when I I have a garden and I when I plant seeds I plant a seed I don't go out the next
day to expect to see full-grown tomatoes when I plant uh carrot seeds I don't expect to go
out next day to see carrots there's always a delay between planting and harvesting
there's always a delay between sowing and reaping the bible says in Ecclesiastes 3
there is a time for everything and there is a season for every activity under heaven there is a
time to plant and there is a time to harvest there is a time to scatter and there is a time to gather
this is simply talking about seasons you always get the results of what you plant in life
in another season not in the same season you don't plant and harvest
in the same season many of you have planted seeds in daring faith financial seeds seeds of service
seeds of sacrifice you're not going to have the harvest immediately you just need to understand
that it comes but it comes in another season write this down I reap in a different season than I sow
and during that season of waiting you wait quietly you wait expectantly you wait
patiently in faith I remember that there's a natural delay between planting and harvest so when
I put in a request it's not going to be instantly fulfilled there is always a delay a delay is not
a denial you know everybody waits nobody just has a dream or a vision or a plan or a desire or a
hope and they just get it immediately everybody waits and I know we're in a hurry and God's not
but being frustrated about how long you have to wait will not get God to hurry
God gives us dreams and visions or I just put hope he gives us hope for change
we want to change we want to see our loved ones change we want to see the world change we want
our finances to change there's always something that we want to change and God is in the business
of changing things but he never tells us when and it's frustrating of course when you have
something real big in your heart it seems to you like it should happen right away at least that's
the way it seems to me and it rarely ever does happen right away because to be honest whatever
it is we're wanting God to do in our life usually we have to go through some kind of a
preparation period in order for that to happen and we don't get to skip over those steps and waiting
doesn't have to be a time of misery if we trust God that he will do things not on our timing but
in his timing and at the right time and might I add just because you feel like you're ready
in no way means that you are ready
trust that God is good that he knows what he's doing and that he will do the best thing for
you at the right time when you have an idea and you ask God to do something in your life
God usually has a bigger idea and usually has a better idea and he's going to have
to prepare you to get you ready for a bigger and better answer to your prayer
and he usually has to take some time getting you ready preparing you and the first thing
God wants to do before he answers your prayer for a job for a mate for for a child to get married
whatever your prayer request is he first he wants to get you ready because God's more interested in
changing your character than he is in answering your prayer because your character is what you're
going to take to heaven and here's what the bible says in first Peter chapter 1
there's wonderful joy ahead that's the inevitable answers to our prayers even though it is necessary
for you to endure many trials for a while and this includes the delays these troubles test your faith
the troubles you're going through right now this is a test they test your faith
so that it is strong and pure just as fire tests and purifies gold and your faith is far
more precious to God than mere gold some of you are going through the fire right now keep going
when you're praying for something in your life and it hasn't happened
and you're in that delay you're in that time zone you're in that season between harvest and sowing
waiting is always a test it tests your character it tests your trust it tests your faith it tests
your endurance it tests all kinds of things in your life waiting is a test waiting on God
takes great strength waiting on God takes great faith I'm convinced that a lot of times
God allows us to wait just to test our faith because we are impulsive
it's not easy to just wait on God it takes great strength to wait on God and great faith
waiting on God is far more difficult than working it takes a complete surrender to the will of God
and an absolute confidence in the promise of God but oh what great things God has in
store for those that will wait on him you can't imagine what God will do for those who wait on him
so why does God make us wait well uh it's a tough question but it's an easy answer
uh you might not like the answer until I explain it but sometimes he makes you wait
because he's God and here's what I mean by that because he's he knows more than you know
he is all knowing but here's the good part not only is he all-knowing he's all loving
so his decision to make you wait is because he loves you he's doing it for your good
he's doing it because he loves you and he's also making you wait to build your faith
see I want you to catch this when we say God's building your faith we we even say
that all the time we say things like God's building my faith he's building my faith let
me say it a different way he's building your relationship with him so that when the promise
comes you have enough faith in him you can handle the promise you won't fail because the promise and
and let's just say it's a business thing where God you know God's gonna bless you financially one day
but he give if he gives you the financial blessing because before you're mature enough to handle it
it will ruin you he knows that so he's making you wait so that that's one reason God waits
the second reason is because even though he doesn't own a watch his timing is always perfect
God knows he's got it planned out he's got your steps planned he's got every day of your life
already planned for perfection for you it's perfection God already knows what he's going
to do in your life next month next year and next decade and his plan for you is good
and you need to trust him and you need to relax and when you're in the waiting room you need to
just say okay he's not early he's not late he's always on time because God's timing is perfect
he's not too late I am so glad that in the darker days of my life I did not give up on God
but I'm even more glad I'm more glad that he didn't give up on me
he knew what he was going to do in my life and I didn't and I had no idea
and I want to dare to wait on you and trust that your timing is perfect
what do you do while you wait
what do I do when God's taking too long
what do I do while I'm in the holding period
what do I do when this divine delay seems to be indefinite
what do you do while you wait while I'm waiting and God is working I'll keep worshiping
that that in my waiting I'll still worship him in my waiting I'll still
give him thanks in my waiting I'll still pray and call on his name
because in my waiting I realize he's still worthy he still deserves my praise
he still merits my heart's worship he still calls and compels me to be faithful unto him while he's
working things out for me he wants me to stay on my knees he wants me to be in church he wants me
to serve he wants me to love my neighbor he wants me to tithe that I will be faithful with God
while I'm waiting because while I'm waiting he's working and I'll keep worshiping
wait for the Lord to work all things together for your good
wait for the Lord to show up in a situation and turn it around
wait for the Lord to work all things together in your favor wait for it
and one of the reasons we don't like waiting is that it reminds me I'm not in control when
I'm waiting I can't do any of the important things that make me feel like I'm accomplishing something
because I'm just sitting around nobody likes to do that and waiting makes all of us feel less
important and we don't know how long we're going to have to wait I think God has forgotten me
those thoughts pass through everybody's mind and I want to tell you God has not forgotten you Isaiah
said this a long time ago they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength and a lot about
waiting I don't understand but one thing I do is that God kind of uses waiting to shape
people's lives he does this over and over and over in the bible see waiting turns out to be
one of God's most important tools in shaping our character Ben Patterson wrote a great book on
waiting and in it he said very often what happens to me while I'm waiting is more important than
what I'm waiting for take it as an invitation from God for a little spiritual discipline
and be reminded just for the season I'm not in control of the world
and that's a really good thing I'm going to wait with Jesus and I'm going to wait
in hope I'm going to wait in peace I'm going to remember the world is not on my shoulders