Don’t Waste the Wait

Life comes in seasons.  Some are just plain good and full of blessing. And then there are hard seasons—trials so difficult, it’s all we can do to put one foot in front of the other.

The seasons that can sometimes test us most, though, are times of waiting. Waiting on direction from God or an answer to prayer or a new job or that thing we so desperately desire. In my seasons of waiting, it feels like I’m a boat adrift—not rowing with intent in a particular direction or fighting to get through a storm. Just drifting. Marking time. Waiting.

As I heal from the loss of Dan, and the grief has become less intense, I find myself on the edge of a waiting season again. What’s next? What does God have for me? For our family? We aren’t tied to this city by a job, anchored by Dan’s work. I can very much sense that if I’m not careful, I’ll keep drifting—looking toward something, hoping for the next thing, or wishing things were different, instead of living fully where God has me.

But I don’t want to waste the wait. I don’t want these years to aimlessly slip by without purpose while waiting for the next thing.  

Thing is, my eyes can get so fixed on what might be, that I fail to live the abundant life right now. The abundant life doesn’t start and stop, depending on my circumstances. God intends us to have life abundant whatever season of life we’re in. I’ve determined to do three things to keep from wasting the wait.

3 ways not to waste the wait

1. Keep doing the last thing God told you to do.

So much of our culture pushes us to the next thing. When we finish high school, we move on to college.  After college, it’s time for marriage. Once we’re married, start trying for kids. After a few kids, work on bigger house.  And then a better job. And so on all the way till retirement, assisted living, and heaven.

Sometimes that next thing on our list doesn’t happen right away. Or we’re unsure what our next step is. When we’re waiting for direction or for God to answer a prayer, we need to keep doing the last thing God told us to do.

God intends us to serve Him right where we are until He tells us differently. When we’re too busy looking at the next thing on our list, we may completely miss God’s purpose for us right where we are. God is sovereign and His timing is impeccable. If I’m waiting on God to answer, I need to be about the business He’s given me until He tells me otherwise. For me, that means intentionally giving new energy to parenting my children and teaching Bible in my local church.

I don’t want to pine away for what could be next and miss what is now. I want to steward this season and serve purposefully right where God has planted me.

2. Get in the Word. Not for an answer but for relationship.

When we’re waiting on God, Bible study often becomes a search for an answer. Is there a verse that speaks to my situation? A promise I can claim? There may be. But in looking for an answer, we may miss the One who answers.

Seasons of waiting are usually less intense than other seasons. They aren’t crises so much as long, drawn-out wildernesses. Which should mean I have bandwidth to get into scripture regularly.

But, unlike hard times where the lessons come clear and fast, we might have to dig a bit harder for lessons in the wait. I want to use this time—whether it’s a few months or a few years—to relish meeting God in the Word. I want to know Christ and I don’t want to miss what He has to teach me now. That means setting up a rhythm of daily devotional time and asking God to reveal himself to me through the pages of scripture.

3. Open my eyes and perk my ears to what God is doing right here.

God is as much at work around me in times of waiting as in times when He throws open a door we’ve prayed. We need to purposefully open our eyes to God working around us and open our ears to what He has to teach.

In Mark 8:18, Jesus asked his disciples “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” This verse is so sad to me, to know Jesus’ closest followers could be with Him and yet miss so much. What might God be doing right now or teaching right now that I’m overlooking? I don’t want to sit around waiting for God to answer and miss all that He’s doing daily in me and around me.

If we could see and hear all God is doing, we would stand slack-jawed. First Corinthians 2:9 says that “[w]hat no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has conceived—God has prepared these things for those who love him.”

Let’s not waste the wait. Let’s not let the seeming lull or mundane routine of a long wait make us miss the unimaginable, magnficent, immeasurable works of God right now.