As We Wait on YouSample

Have you ever wanted to ChatGPT your questions and requests to God? Sometimes it's tempting to think that He’s looking for some exact formula from you, and if you could just figure out what He’s wanting, maybe He would hear you, speed up His response, and give you some more direction. The temptation is to think God’s timing is all about us and what we are or are not doing right. We can feel like we are on hold and obsess over being paralyzed to do ANYTHING until we get the answers we seek. As a result, we can overcompensate for our paralysis and haphazardly make decisions just to do something.

I think without even realizing it, I’ve spent a lot of my life with this skewed view of God. It has made me feel unworthy, unheard, unaccepted, and unavailable to others. I’ve spent a lot of my time in my head about WHY God isn’t doing what I think He COULD and SHOULD be doing for me and those in my care. I’ve spent so much time waiting to hear from Him on something, I can become distracted and unable to be present with what He has already put in my hands for today.

When I woke up the morning of our write for "As We Wait," I came upon Genesis 6-8 in the Bible, which tells the story of Noah and His process of surrender, obedience, and dependency upon not only God’s ways, but on God’s timing. Scripture says that Noah waited 40 days on the Ark for the floods to stop. This is after all the time it took to build the ark with no rain. Noah was very familiar with waiting. When I imagine Noah in this story, he probably had so many questions, just like me, about timing and reasons for why things had to be the way they were. However, as I began to sit in the story with Noah, I began to realize how there was actually so much to do just in front of him for each moment of each day as He was waiting on the Lord for the next big step of getting OFF the ark. The day-to-day process of building an ark, the gathering of animals onto the ark, and while on the ark, the basic hourly needs of taking care of family, animals, and safety on board surely kept Noah preoccupied. Yes, He had things he was waiting to hear God on, but Noah had so much he COULD do while He was waiting. That spoke to me.

Yes, my family and I are waiting on the Lord for direction right now in some key areas, and it feels like I’ve been waiting for a while, but yet when I think about it, there’s so much I can faithfully do that I already know to do to honor and obey Him while I am faithful in the waiting. I can rest in HIs omniscient character, knowing He has perspective far beyond mine, and yet also hold the understanding that He is Emmanuel, God with me, right in the waiting, sustaining me and setting my feet on solid ground enough for each day, giving me things to do for His glory while I wait. I can be confident that just as He remembered Noah and those in his care in Genesis 8:1, He remembers me. He loves me, and I can trust him. I get to keep my eyes on Him the whole time.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Noah had plenty on his plate for each day, and when the time came, God called him off the boat, but not a moment before it was time. God has things for Noah to do in the meantime, and He has the same for us.

Let’s pray. Lord, let me be sensitive to Your Spirit. Help me to live my life confident in Your authority and lordship when I don’t know how things are supposed to go just yet. You are right here with me as I wait on You. You are good, and your faithfulness to me is everlasting. I say “Yes” to everything you have placed in front of me today to do for Your glory, honor, and fame! Your ways are higher! May I live in union with You all my days! In Jesus' name, Amen.