Waiting is not on anyone’s bucket list. In a world where instant deliveries are popular, it may seem meaningless for our weary selves to wait. Yet, most of us have waited for many desires in this life. This pattern of waiting is magnified in a missionary’s life.
In our waiting, all the false idols of control and self-sufficiency are thrown out the door.
When the Lord moves someone to the field, he also moves the person to wait for visas, paperwork, friendships, and other needs. The Lord takes away a lot of tangible stability that missionaries have to re-establish in a foreign context.
If these were the only struggles, it probably would be tempting to lean on one’s strength rather than prayer. But then, there is the added pressure of waiting for the salvation of those in our contexts, or for the maturity of those young in faith (1 Corinthians 11:28). Most of life becomes filled with waiting in prayer and working for a single moment when a soul is freed from sin to Christ’s righteousness.
Waiting Purposely
Yet, God in his mercy not only allows but also writes waiting into our life story so that we may lean on him like never before. Our Heavenly Father has crafted waiting to be the Christian’s training ground, producing the fruit of the Spirit within us. Here, all the false idols of control and self-sufficiency are thrown out the door.
Waiting, in many ways, is an essential part of the Christian life. God designs these periods of waiting so that we may see our finitude and his infinite worth. He alone can save, and his purposes alone cannot be thwarted.
Waiting Well
If we do not focus on the true worth of such long waiting seasons and are not prepared to wait well, we will not only be caught off guard, but we will also waste our waiting. To prepare yourselves, it is important to remember that wherever you are is a practice ground for godliness, especially in the seasons of uncertainty and lack of clarity.
Here are some steps to make your waiting effective:
- Evaluate if your waiting has been in and for the Lord. How do you respond when deadlines pass by and answers do not come? Do you trust God, or do you forego prayer and worship to employ all your physical strength toward answers?
- If you find yourself forsaking God for other solutions or giving into the paralysis of helplessness, you can repent and ask the Lord to help you wait and work prayerfully. You can ask him to make the greatest desire of your heart to be him.
- See waiting as an answer to the requests to vitalize your prayer life, faith, and necessary skills that otherwise could get sidelined by busyness. Strive to use this time to keep yourselves in the love and sympathy of our God and not the world (Jude 20–22).
- Our smaller instances of waiting point to the ultimate wait. So, pray with the chorus of the heavenward groaning of all creation as you wait for eternity and the second coming of Jesus.
- Waiting may press us in to be self-centered, but God’s Spirit leads us missionally. In waiting, focus on the Spirit who molds us to be others-centered by increasing our capacity for mercy and compassion to the unsaved and the doubters.
- In Waiting Isn’t a Waste, Mark Vroegop uses an acronym that is very helpful for the day-to-day. In your abiding, use FAST. Focus on the Lord instead of the situation, Adore his name and attributes, Seek his face by making your requests known, and Trust his heart for you is always for your good and his glory.
God has promised to keep us from stumbling and to never leave or forsake us. He is the one who keeps us waiting well and presents us blameless with great joy before God. In our waiting, we join the long line of saints, including Abraham, Sarah, Hannah, David, and Jesus himself, who were perfected through suffering.
They loved fully and freely because God, who was their savior, never abandoned them. The same God can and will use our waiting to make us like Christ Jesus so that we may display his love and patience to others.