In recent travels, this writer surveyed men and women as to the one lesson they learned when they waited on God. Their responses were: I learned that God rewards those who seek Him diligently.
* * * I learned that while it may take a while for the answer, God does hear and answer prayers.
* * * I learned that if I wait on God, God is faithful to supply me with whatever I need or I am asking for.
* * * I learned the hard way. Once I had been praying about a situation. I didn’t feel that God was moving fast enough so I went ahead of God thinking I knew what was best for me even going as far as asking God to bless it.
Needless to say the situation ended up a total mess. I thank God for His forgiveness. That very painful experience taught me to wait patiently on God. The hardest thing for most people to do is ….wait. Why? Sometimes when the waiting season is lasting longer than we want, we begin to grow tired of waiting. One’s fleshly response to God’s silence is often to take control. But there are reasons why God allows a waiting period, which include:
• God knows if He were to answer our prayers right away in every situation we pray for, we may not be ready spiritually to handle the answer. Therefore, waiting gives us the opportunity to spiritually grow so we are ready to receive the blessing when it comes.
• At other times, God uses the waiting season to teach us discipline, patience and to build our trust in Him. Once a situation is in the hands of God; waiting shows trust in God that God will do what God needs to do when God is ready to do it. This month, this writer will examine the issue of “waiting patiently on God.”
Four observations will be made:
(1) What To Do While You Are Waiting – Week 2
(2) Why God Makes Us Wait – Week 3
(3) How Waiting Forces Us to Look to God – Week 4
(4) How Waiting Strengthens – Week 5 If you miss any issue in this series, please feel free to stop by the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper and arrange to receive copies of any back issues.
Next Week: What To Do
While You Are Waiting
The writer does not assume responsibility
in any way for readers’
efforts to apply or utilize information
or recommendations made in
these articles, as they may not be
necessarily appropriate for every
situation to which they may refer.
If you would like to contact Rev.
Lester, write to her c/o P.O. Box
121, Brookfield, WI. 53008.
