While We WaitSample

Author: Liz Sarno

My son has always been a bigger kid. At twelve-years-old, he was almost 6’ and over 200 pounds. All of his life, I avoided letting him play football because I knew, with his size, he would be placed on the line. I honestly didn’t want him to get hurt. Last year, however, I gave in and let him join the football team. The boy who had never played a game of football in his life was made the starting center on the offensive line. 

That’s a big position, but he just wanted to play defense. Every game he would ask the coaches to let him play defense and every game his offensive coach would say no. He got so discouraged thinking the coaches were keeping something from him. He was frustrated and angry.  

One day the offensive coach pulled him aside and told him, “I know you really want to play defense, but I can’t let you do that. To me, you are the most valuable person on this line, and I need to keep you safe so that you can continue to play the center position.” His coach wasn’t trying to keep something from him. He had a purpose in not letting him do what he wanted to do. 

Every season of life brings something new—a lesson to be learned. We just have to discover what the purpose is. We might walk through the waiting thinking something is being kept from us, but we really need to recognize that the purpose for the waiting is to put something in us, something we could not get any other way. 

1 Peter 5:10 shows us that the purpose for our struggle is God wanting to perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us.The NLT version says He will restore, support, and strengthen us, and He will place us on a firm foundation.

When we don’t understand the purpose for the waiting, it’s easy to be discouraged, frustrated, or even angry with the process. That is the time when we need to put our trust in God, understanding that even when His ways are not our ways, that He has only the best in mind for us. Even when we don’t recognize the whys in the process, we can discover the purpose in the process and use it to place us on a firm foundation.

What past memory of waiting do you now see purpose in?

What current piece of waiting do you need to ask God to give you peace in?