What Not To Do In The Waiting 

There are certain things we must avoid in the waiting. A careful look at God’s word reveals what we need to watch out for when we find ourselves in the waiting.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Living the Christian life is as practical as it gets. In God’s word we read about real people with real struggles and how they handled them. When it comes to waiting, no one learned it faster than the father of our faith, Abraham. In Genesis 12 God called Abraham to follow Him, and Abraham did. He left his land and his people and set out after the Lord. As Abraham began his new adventure, God promised him a son. This may have been a small feat to Abraham and Sarah in their early years, but with each passing year of waiting, the promise started to look a little bit ridiculous. 

So they did what you and I should never do when it comes to our time in the waiting: they took matters into their own hands. In Genesis 16:1-3 Sarah sees that she’s too old to give Abraham a child, and suggests he fathers a child through their servant Hagar. Abraham agrees. The immediate result is regret. The entire family dynamic becomes sort of a mess, and some would argue that to this day the problems in the Middle East are rooted in the conflict between Abraham’s two sons – Ishmael and Isaac. Two sons, because yes, God’s promise did eventually come true even though it took 25 years to do so. 

Most of us are too impatient to wait on God’s timing in our lives. Yet it’s never a good idea to take matters in our own hands and fix our problems. The other way we tend to manage our waiting is to settle for what’s here now instead of waiting for what’s best later. Sadly, singles are particularly tempted to use this strategy in the waiting. Singles opt to pursue physical intimacy right here right now at the cost of holiness and obedience. Some singles go as far as marrying out of the will of God because they figure better the bird in the hand than two in the bush. But there is a third strategy that many in the waiting adopt and it might be the most tragic of them all. It’s the strategy of taking the easy way out and quitting. We count ourselves out of God’s plans for us. Think Demas who fell in love with the world and forsook the Lord. Think of the men and women who abandon the name of Jesus because Jesus hasn’t given them the soulmate of their dreams. It’s tragic because it’s idolatrous. What we think we need in order to be happy can easily become an idol in the waiting. 

Have you been tempted to take matters into your hands in the waiting? Are you tempted to settle for immediate gratification instead of waiting for God’s perfect plan for your life? Or even worse, are you on the verge of quitting? Don’t, because there is a better way.