Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:14
I want to know what’s next. I want to know the plan. Let’s make a list, God, so we can start checking things off as we go.
Okay, I finished that one, now what? Come on, God, try to keep up.
Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I’ve never been great at patience. I’m a planner. I want to know what’s coming and make sure it all happens exactly as I planned it.
So God has to remind me over and over to wait patiently. But he doesn’t say that there is nothing happening during the waiting. In the middle of telling me twice to wait, he also tells me to be brave and courageous.
So in this place of waiting, what is there to be brave about?
Waiting requires hope, which requires courage to keep believing. It takes courage to sit in stillness and believe that God is still working on the plan. It takes courage to let him be in charge of that plan without your input. It takes courage to trust that God will be God, while you just stay the course.
Waiting doesn’t mean do nothing. It means keep doing what God has set before you. It means keep reading his Word. It means keep sharing the Truth. It means keep praying even when you don’t see change. It means keep praising. It means rest in his promises. It means keep filling yourself, building resources for the next task.
So when you find yourself waiting on God’s next move, be brave and courageous in the middle.
The Lord has surely deposited His wisdom in you.
Amen! I love your observation that waiting “means keep filling yourself, building resources for the next task.” That reminded me of a time of waiting in my life when the Lord told me to use this time to go deeper in my study of scripture and meditate on His Word and memorize it because there was a time coming when I wouldn’t have time to do as much of that and I would need what I learned. Sure enough that time came and I was SO glad I had obeyed the Lord. His Spirit brought back to my mind so much of what I’d studied and helped me apply it in that next season of activity and crisis. Praise God! His timing is never wrong.