Writing a post about waiting has been in my mind for several days now. Funny that I waited a while to write it, but I wanted things to sink in a bit more. And then I got my 'Encouragement For Today' emails, and they were parts 1 and 2 and were titled "Wait Management." Wow.
Many have spoken on the topic of waiting, and the fact that our society has geared us not to wait for anything -- and if we do, it's viewed as a bad thing. Fast food, high-speed internet, speed dating, text-messaging...and the list goes on. Granted, technology has done some amazing things, but I still wonder sometimes how good these things are, don't you?
The main reason I began thinking about waiting is simple: I'm 22 weeks pregnant. Generally, a pregnancy is about 36-40 weeks long. Anyone wonder where I'm going with this? Do you think that God really needs any kind of time to put a human together? I mean, after all, Adam and Eve were created in a day -- more like a moment -- and I'm sure there were no glitches in either of them. So why did God choose nine months? I don't know. All I know is that he had a reason for choosing nine months rather than three or twelve. And I believe that there is a lot about the waiting in all of it that is very important.
Here are some Bible verses (NIV) about waiting:
"If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come." ~ Job 14:14
"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." ~ Psalm 5:3
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." ~ Psalm 27:14
"We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield." ~ Psalm 33:20
"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." ~ Psalm 37:7
"I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God." ~ Psalm 38:15
"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry." ~ Psalm 40:1
"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope." ~ Psalm 130:5
"Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." ~ Isaiah 26:8
"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" ~ Psalm 30:18
"But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always." ~Hosea 12:6
"But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me." ~ Micah 7:7
"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." ~ Romans 8:25
"It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ..." ~ Titus 2:12-13
"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." ~ Jude 1:21
There were many, many more verses that I did not include here. But something tells me that God is trying to tell us something about waiting...that it can be a good thing, a very important thing. How different does that look from our society today? Isn't it a valuable tool that mothers can give their children when they teach them to wait, rather than giving them anything and everything right now? I think so.
I have a very hard time waiting for things, things that I deem 'important,' when really they are just important to me. Two nights ago, I had to get up to go to the bathroom (big surprise!). When I got back to bed, Miles started moving around, I think he had the hiccups...but in that moment I wanted so badly to hold him in my arms. I didn't want to wait another four months for this little boy, I wanted to hold him NOW! But God teaches us so much in the waiting. As much as I dislike waiting for things -- almost all of the time -- I can look back and see how much I have gained, or grown, or learned from that time of waiting.
Thank you, Lord, for making me wait for your precious gifts!
Many have spoken on the topic of waiting, and the fact that our society has geared us not to wait for anything -- and if we do, it's viewed as a bad thing. Fast food, high-speed internet, speed dating, text-messaging...and the list goes on. Granted, technology has done some amazing things, but I still wonder sometimes how good these things are, don't you?
The main reason I began thinking about waiting is simple: I'm 22 weeks pregnant. Generally, a pregnancy is about 36-40 weeks long. Anyone wonder where I'm going with this? Do you think that God really needs any kind of time to put a human together? I mean, after all, Adam and Eve were created in a day -- more like a moment -- and I'm sure there were no glitches in either of them. So why did God choose nine months? I don't know. All I know is that he had a reason for choosing nine months rather than three or twelve. And I believe that there is a lot about the waiting in all of it that is very important.
Here are some Bible verses (NIV) about waiting:
"If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come." ~ Job 14:14
"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." ~ Psalm 5:3
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." ~ Psalm 27:14
"We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield." ~ Psalm 33:20
"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." ~ Psalm 37:7
"I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God." ~ Psalm 38:15
"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry." ~ Psalm 40:1
"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope." ~ Psalm 130:5
"Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." ~ Isaiah 26:8
"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" ~ Psalm 30:18
"But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always." ~Hosea 12:6
"But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me." ~ Micah 7:7
"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." ~ Romans 8:25
"It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ..." ~ Titus 2:12-13
"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." ~ Jude 1:21
There were many, many more verses that I did not include here. But something tells me that God is trying to tell us something about waiting...that it can be a good thing, a very important thing. How different does that look from our society today? Isn't it a valuable tool that mothers can give their children when they teach them to wait, rather than giving them anything and everything right now? I think so.
I have a very hard time waiting for things, things that I deem 'important,' when really they are just important to me. Two nights ago, I had to get up to go to the bathroom (big surprise!). When I got back to bed, Miles started moving around, I think he had the hiccups...but in that moment I wanted so badly to hold him in my arms. I didn't want to wait another four months for this little boy, I wanted to hold him NOW! But God teaches us so much in the waiting. As much as I dislike waiting for things -- almost all of the time -- I can look back and see how much I have gained, or grown, or learned from that time of waiting.
Thank you, Lord, for making me wait for your precious gifts!
4 comments:
I know exactly what you mean, Tracey... WAIT till you go through the 8th and 9th month... LOL. It is very tough. :D
Oh, thanks Jolene! Tough, huh? Well, I say bring it on! =)
The waiting seemed ENDLESS and EVERDAY I wanted to just go into labour and deliver Caleb immediately!!
Yeah Tracey, God will teach you A LOT about waiting that last month. Especially if you go overdue. The last 8 days for me (after we hit my EDD and she still showed no signs of coming out), seemed like a whole month. Honestly, I cried every day.
You have such a good attitude and outlook about this... thanks for sharing!
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