Casandra Martin

“Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.” – John Ortberg

I get tired of waiting. Do you? I have tried being patient, looking on the bright side, and grinning and bearing it. Sometimes the time seems to drag, my heart hits a wall, and my spirit struggles to face one more day without an answer. I know God loves me. I know He is powerful, able to meet my every need. Why isn’t He moving?

There are no easy answers. The command I find myself struggling to surrender to is His call to wait and trust His goodness. The promise I am clinging to with both hands tells me, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24) The truth that gently touches my bruised heart reminds me that just because I can’t see God moving, doesn’t mean He isn’t at work.

Sometimes God works in very quiet, behind-the-scenes ways. There were four hundred years of silence between Malachi and Matthew. Many believed God no longer cared, that He wasn’t listening, that He had left them alone. Galatians 4:4 tells us, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Do you see it? In the fullness of time. We can look back at those four hundred years and trace God’s fingerprints as He moved nations, spread a common language, and built roads in preparation for the perfect moment to bring Jesus into the world. The people of the time only saw enemies conquering their land, their faith being challenged, and their hope dwindling with each invader. God was moving, just not in the way they were expecting. Maybe the same is true for you and me.

My Jesus Resolution today is to wait. Waiting isn’t something we do just to pass the time. Waiting is sometimes the most difficult part of transformation. Waiting requires me to surrender to a solution I have not seen because it is coming from a God who only gives me His best. There is nothing comfortable about waiting. There is nothing easy about waiting. God does work, however, in times of waiting to move me deeper into His love and His eternal purpose for my heart. Maybe that is the answer that I most need.