“If God is making you wait, be prepared to receive more than what you asked for.”
I once ordered a really great pair of shoes online. The delivery time for my package was estimated at 3 working days. If you know anything about me, you will know that I was preposterously excited about my purchase because I’m obsessed with shoes. If I could sleep in them, I would. So in those days, I waited, putting together all the outfits that would look good with my new shoes, picturing myself opening the package and trying them on for the first time, inhaling that new shoe smell. Yes, I just said that. And my excitement never waned because this was something I genuinely and truly wanted. However, after a week had gone by, and after a few phone enquiries and well-written irate emails that would make any English dictionary proud, I found myself feeling less excited and more anxious. The more the days went by, the less likely it seemed that I would ever get my shoes. And well, I didn’t. What I did get was a refund, a poorly worded apology and a discount for the next time I wanted to risk shopping on that website.
As you can imagine, my disappointment was pretty significant. I mean, I could taste it. For a while even my favourite things, chocolate and pretzels, tasted like pure dissatisfaction. (Okay, “a while” is probably about three hours in total, if I’m being completely honest; but for the sake of proving the point rather dramatically let’s just go with it.) I had been excited, and I had been patient and at the end of the day, I had been let down by technology and people. Yes, I got my money back, but what I had wanted was the shoes.
So now I’m not so good at waiting. No, it’s not just because of shoe trauma. That’s just one example of the culmination of small happenings in my life that have made the waiting experience one that leaves me anxious and apprehensive. It’s not so much the time spent waiting, it’s the not knowing if I will get what it is that I am waiting for.
Did I just use this as an opportunity to rant about not getting my online purchase that one time? Yes. I did. But there is also a point.
There have been many things in my life that God has purposefully made me wait for. And in a number of those instances, I have failed miserably at simply being patient and trusting enough to believe that what is coming will be worth it. Now the thing about ordering something, paying for it, and waiting for it to arrive, is the simplicity of knowing exactly what it is you are probably going to get. (Yes, people these days get so many weird things online but this is a hypothetical, perfect buying system world I’m talking about people, take a metaphorical seat.) Even when you go into a shop, select your items, and then have to wait at the till to purchase them, at the end of the day, what is in your basket is what you yourself selected and although you may be annoyed at the one guy in front of you who couldn’t stop running back to the aisles to get more stuff and made you wait longer, you still probably go home with what it is you came for.
With God, however, it doesn’t work like that buddy. Because number one, God is not a supermarket or an online store and number 2, He always, always, knows better than you what you should and should not get, as well as when you should get it. So we may go to Him in prayer, verbalising our heart’s desires, things He already knows we want. And we may ask for very specific things that we believe will bring joy and contentment into our lives. But sometimes, in fact, quite often, His answer may very well be, not this and not yet.
So waiting on God is hard. You can’t track your purchase, write irate emails or even count the number of people in front you, to be able to determine when your time for that thing is going to come. However, waiting on God is sure, and it is definite. You won’t need to worry about getting refunds, the wrong size or even just the wrong thing. Because waiting on God, means waiting on a sure thing.
If you were waiting on how I was going to relate this back to relationships, wait no more because I’m bringing it home!
When we let our anxiety and impatience dictate the decisions we make, we often find ourselves in places that God never intended for us. We are struck with the disappointment of having insisted on pursuing things regardless of what God was saying, and being left with the realisation that what we strived so hard to get without Him, wasn’t all that great. The reason being, that what God has planned for you is so much better than what you could ever plan for yourself.
In some cases we find ourselves questioning how we could be such terrible judges of character. Surely God had something to do with all the potential you saw and still see in that person, right? How can you have been so wrong? How can you have been so sure about going ahead with trying to make that purchase if it was so obvious there was going to be a shipping problem? All the other reviews warned you, what made you think you would be special? Well, you may not have been wrong, but perhaps God wants you to wait for fulfilled potential, the certainty and not just the possibility. Be it in them, or in someone else.
That’s why if you’re going to ask for something, be prepared to wait on Him for it. Many Christians will have heard this a lot, and by now will be rolling their eyes at the idea of it. Yes, yes, we know, God is good, and we need to trust in Him, oh my gosh, we get it. But the reason something needs to be said repeatedly is often because people are not truly listening. When you fully internalise that thought, the waiting process begins to feel less anxious and more freeing.
I do not believe we are designed to be part of anything ordinary. We cannot believe in Him for a true love partnership, while jumping the gun and staying in situations that do not reflect that, simply because we are impatient. Waiting on a love that is worthy of the name, can never be described as easy. We find ourselves wanting to stay in relationships to which God may be saying not this or not yet. We accept anything, even what we know He does not intend for us, simply because we are tired of waiting and want to believe we have found that something. But again, you cannot get a refund on your time and your heart cannot be replaced with a new one. We need to know that when it is a true love partnership, God has said, yes, this and yes, now.
Of course, we don’t want to give up when it seems like that is all our heart desires. But unfortunately, the heart is not the greatest judge when it comes to matters that concern it. We find it admirable to keep believing and to be unwavering in our resolve to see things through. Unfortunately, God doesn’t. He is not going to give you a pat on the back for not listening to Him and then being hurt. And yes, it’s very clear when that has happened. How much more anxious are you now that you are in the relationship you wanted, than when you were waiting for it? If your answer is anything along the lines of “Why am I even trying?” then, yes, you jumped the gun and didn’t wait on God. A true love partnership will not have you asking why you waited. It will have you thanking God that you did.
As they say, what is meant for you, will come to you. Sometimes, patience reveals a lot, not only about what you want, but also about what God wants for you. Let it come, when it is time for it to come. Let it be a certainty and not a possibility. Don’t insist on accepting the mediocre, when you can wait for the excellent.
All The Things 