While We Wait

It can be a powerful thing when you hear God's call. For me, it was exciting and frightening. I wasn't sure what it all meant, or where God would take me. However, what I did know is I clearly heard His direction, and I was ready to move forward to whatever He had for me. So, I took off running.

But what happens when we're ready to move forward, but God tells you to pause? What if the direction you get from him is to stop? And what if you’re told to wait with no hint as to what's next, or how long you'll have to hold still.

Psalm 27:14 - Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

In my personal life, I am known as someone who "gets things done." When I worked in corporate American, I did a lot of project management. In that role, the object is to identify the end goal, and map out the steps to get there. I was good at planning how to get to the end goal; I knew the logical steps to take. And I understood, that to complete a project, you have to keep it moving forward.
So, doing nothing makes no sense to me, and as a doer, it's frustrating. Waiting is not easy, and how we walk those seasons out says a lot about us.

The truth is, it's not something I like doing. No one is going to pat you on the back and say "Great job sitting still!" It's not exciting, or fulfilling to wait. And, besides, waiting doesn't get you anywhere... or does it?

Waiting…. it still just doesn't feel good! However, I learned a long time ago not to base my walk on my feelings. Scripture is pretty clear in revealing the consequences of relying on what we think:

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

And

Proverbs 28:26 - Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

Yet, as the weeks go by, I am beginning to see beauty in what God is doing in telling me to be still.

Becoming quiet changes us. By waiting, we are forced to be, rather than do. Without the chaos of constant movement, we begin to center on Him alone. We begin to recognize his sovereignty, and we start to rely on God for acknowledgement, rather than our accomplishments.

Psalm 46:10 - “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

When we stop running around things get peaceful. It's in the quietness we can best hear God’s voice more clearly.

John 10:27 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Jeremiah 33:3 - Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

There in the solitude we are refreshed and strengthened. We become intimate with God and more dependent on Him to fill us.

I don't know how long I'll be in this place of waiting. And, I cannot say I understand fully what God is doing. What I do know is that He is changing me, and whatever the process, His plans for me are always good.

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.