Anticipation & The Art of Waiting Patiently
This year, I am anticipating that God will do several new things and several good things. Things I have hoped and prayed for before and not seen. Even things that I did not pray for and cannot imagine or anticipate! In view of that, I wait, in anticipation of what He will do. In my anticipation, however, I have to remind myself that God is never in a hurry.
With His system, everything is according to time, such that He is never too early and never too late. Everything is right on time. Recall the Bible says in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 1: “To everything, there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…”. Also many times, we see scripture saying: ” when the fullness of time has come” or “at the appointed time”. So while anticipation is good, I must learn to wait on God for His appointed time.
Apostle John in the book of Revelations, Chapter 1 verse 9 said: “I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us.”
We are called to patient endurance. So in everything we do, we are timing ourselves and synching with God’s timing. Because we are mostly not sure of His timing, we find ourselves impatient and straining. Waiting is the toughest thing for us. In our own eyes, we might feel the time is right, but God says wait. And most of the time, He doesn’t say wait until a particular date. That would have helped our impatience a bit. But He just says wait. As obedient children, we are forced to rein in our anticipation a bit, and build up our patience to wait. We encourage ourselves with the reasoning that delay does not mean denial. If He has said wait, it is only a matter of time, it will come to pass.
Has anyone waited for test results to come out? How did you feel when you were told thirty minutes and at the end of that time, you were informed that “it will soon be ready”? You want to scream!
Most of the time, the things we have to wait for are important, life-changing and critical. If I were told to wait one week to find out whether or not the President will have fish for dinner tonight, it wouldn’t really move me. I would have little or no anticipation of the feedback unless I was the one to cook the fish. In fact, I might even forget I was waiting for info. But if I was told that the result of my blood test for HIV would be ready in an hour, how do you think I would spend that hour?
Apostle John said we are called to patient endurance. In my mind that speaks of waiting to be free of something but enduring the thing in the interim, keenly anticipating relief but having to still yourself to wait until the manifestation of the promise.
It is difficult to wait. It is even more difficult to wait patiently. Yet, this is what we have been called to. A patient wait. Roman 12 verse 12 talks about being “patient in hope”. Hebrews 6 verse 12 talks about us imitating those who “through faith and patience” inherit the promise. There seems to be no short cut to the journey. Being in a hurry could be deadly. You don’t want to be impatient to offer the burnt offering before the priest arrives (the story of Saul and Samuel in 1 Samuel 13).
However, our waiting patiently must not kill our anticipation. Because God will still do a great thing, we must fire up our anticipation with prayers, asking Him to remember His promises. Also, our prayers will fan our patience and improve us while we wait. Prayer will show us the things we must do to prepare for that which God will do. Prayer keeps us in His presence while waiting. So our waiting is not passive. It is active and preparatory to God’s timing.
Since we have no control over the timing of God, it is best we make good use of our time of waiting, to prepare for what is coming. As we anticipate, we ought to make plans and prepare for what we can see coming, to the best of our ability. We can also ask God to help us prepare appropriately. Sometimes He is the One to prepare us Himself because what He is planning might be totally beyond our imagination. On such occasions, we only realize after the fact, the preparations that He has taken us through and we praise Him for it.
As I patiently await what God will do, I am setting my house in order. Seeking His face. Praying. Waiting. Anticipating. Studying the word. Building up my strength. Getting ready to move at the first instruction.
How do soldiers wait in their barracks before they’re called to war? I don’t know. But I guess they will have exercises, practice drills, etc. To put them in shape for battle, so they are ready to go at a moment’s notice. That is what I aim to be. Ready at a moment’s notice.
How about you?
The parable of the ten virgins has always intrigued me. I have listened to some teaching on it but what grips me is the fact that some virgins took extra oil and some did not. What informed the choice of carrying extra oil? The simple reason is that they anticipated that the wait might be long. But the other five filled their lamps too, but just failed to carry extra oil. How do I know when to carry extra oil in my daily dealings? Which situation calls for extra oil? How will I differentiate? How do I ensure that my patience does not run out when waiting for God? How do I prevent myself from helping God as Abraham and Sarah did with Ishmael?
Waiting is not a joke. The capacity to wait for God is a grace that we must covet. Waiting patiently. Waiting in faith. Actively waiting. Waiting until He gives the go-ahead.
Think about these things and may God give us all the grace we need to wait on Him. Amen.
