More Waiting

Recently, I shared that God has been giving me some lessons on waiting. I'm not sure what I am waiting for or why God is so clearly telling me to wait, but I cannot deny His message to me. I have always said that I wish God would write His message for me in the sky and that's essentially what He has done over the past week. Over and over again, the subject of waiting has come up. It came up again tonight.

I am part of a women's Bible study that meets on Thursday nights. The past few weeks we have been studying He Speaks to Me, by Priscilla Shirer. This study also includes a DVD with weekly messages from Priscilla. These weekly talks have focused on Samuel and how, even as a young boy, he heard from God, though he lived in a time when "the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions" (1 Sam. 3:1). Tonight's text was 1 Sam. 3:3: "Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord." This was the first time Samuel heard God's voice. Not when he was working in the temple; when he was quiet, lying down, resting.

Priscilla illustrated the point well by recalling the birth of her first son. Although she had planned to give birth naturally, the pain of labor changed her mind and she decided to have an epidural. When the anesthesiologist came to administer the epidural, he told Priscilla that she must be completely still before he could give her the injection. He can't give the epidural to women who are moving around, trying to ease their own pain. The anesthesiologist has wonder drugs that will take away the pain of labor, but many women can't stay still long enough to receive it.

Just like the anesthesiologist had the relief for Priscilla's labor pains, so God has the relief for whatever pains us. He is the Great Physician. But He wants us to be still so He can speak to us. He can't help us when we are moving around, trying to ease our own pain. Isaiah 30:15 and 18 say, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"

God desires to save me, to give me strength, to be gracious to me, to show me compassion. Those are the blessings for those who wait on the Lord, who rest in Him and trust Him to work everything out according to His good. If I am running around trying to fix everything myself, I'm not trusting God to be in control. I'm trying to ease my own pain, like the woman who tries to take away her labor pains by shifting and turning. I need to stop and be still, waiting on the One who holds ultimate relief in His hands to work things out in the omniscient and omnipotent way that only He can. Like the ketchup commercial claims, "The best things come to those who wait!"