When Waiting on God Is Difficult

Life is on hold. My Year of Transformation became my Year of Waiting. Instead of teaching classes, traveling, and attending a singles retreat and writing conferences, I stay at home and take part in Zoom meetings and wait for things to get back to normal.

Friend, are you weary of waiting like I am? Maybe you are waiting on a job offer, healing from disease, a spouse, a loved one to accept Jesus, or peace amidst uncertainty. We are in good company.

• Noah waited 120 years for rain and another year before God told him he could leave the ark.
• Joseph spent years in a prison for a crime he did not commit and became second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt.
• Moses wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until God called him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. 
• Hannah waited and prayed for a baby named Samuel, who became a priest, judge, and a prophet.
• Jesus waited until He was thirty years old to begin His public ministry.

Let’s learn from two stories in the Bible of people who waited on God’s plan for them.

Abraham waited on God

God promised Abram (Abraham) he would be the father of a great nation and all people blessed through him. But Abram and his wife Sarai (Sarah) had no children. God repeated His promise to Abram many times. (Genesis 15:4, 17:5-6, 17:16, 17:19) Abram was obedient and trusted God. “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, NIV).

However, he didn’t understand how he and Sarai could have a child in their old age. So Sarai suggested Abram have a child with her slave Hagar. Because of the birth of Ishmael, the founder of the Arab nation, consequences continue today.

After waiting 25 years, Abram and Sarai thought having a child was impossible. But God always keeps His promises. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when their son Isaac was born. Isaac’s son Jacob had twelve sons who became the Twelve Tribes of the nation of Israel.

Another miracle baby, born of a virgin two thousand years later, fulfilled the promises of God to send a Savior of the World to restore our relationship with Him. Mary receives the humanly impossible news, “And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God’” (Luke 1:35, ESV).

God manifests His glory in the impossible.

David waited on God

David understood waiting on God’s timing. He wrote this in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

Samuel anointed David as Israel’s next king when David was a young man. Saul, the current king, attempted to kill him several times. David waited fifteen years to become king, but only over the land of Judah. It was another seven years before he became king over all of Israel.

Nothing could prevent God’s plan for David to be king and for the promised Messiah to come from the line of David (Luke 1:31-32).

God’s plan always prevails.

My story of waiting on God

Looking back at experiences when God answered prayers and fulfilled promises, as He did for Abraham and David, strengthens our faith. When I am waiting impatiently for God, I remember how He opened the door and worked out all the details for my move from Illinois to North Carolina.

In January 2012, I found out about a perfect job for me at Duke University in Durham, NC. I applied and miraculously, through some mutual contacts, found out the hiring manager’s name and email address. I had many successful phone interviews. Because most of my family was in North Carolina, I felt God telling me that was where I will live.

Months of waiting. Praying and asking my small group to pray for me. I wondered; did I hear God correctly? I asked the hiring manager for an in-person interview. He said no; they wanted to hire me despite not having a face-to-face meeting. Then where was the offer? I’m tired of waiting!

My friends and family doubted I would get the job. But I kept praying, “Lord, if it is your will, please give me the job at Duke so I can move to North Carolina.”

Finally, nine months after I applied, I got the offer. God took care of every single detail for my move to North Carolina in January 2013 to be near my family and start my new job.

Waiting on God develops our faith and obedience.

Conclusion

Perhaps God is transforming me during 2020, the Year of Waiting. I pray for patience and to know God’s plans are best for me. I desire to trust God and be obedient like Abraham, David, and all the faithful men and women in the Bible.

Waiting is part of God’s plan for us. Waiting is hard. We want it now! However, being patient waiting on God develops our faith and obedience. We wait on God so He can manifest His glory by doing the impossible. Never forget God’s plan always prevails.