TuesdayReflection

  3^rd October 2023

'Jaquelle Crowe says'

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"God Is Working Through Your Waiting"

Waiting is a common pattern in my life.
Waiting for graduation, for work, for a boyfriend, for a trip, for an idea, for the next big thing.

And I find this terribly inconvenient.
I am a full-throttle go-getter who wants to move from thing to thing with speed and efficiency, and waiting feels like a massive speed bump that kills my momentum and drive.

Every Christian's life is woven with spiritual, mental, and physical waiting.
Waiting for God to provide, guide, move, heal, direct, answer, reveal.

Faithful preparation is not bad, but how can we do that when we're not even sure what we're preparing for?
How do we live in the tension between waiting and preparation for the season ahead?

First, we need to recognise why God calls us to wait.
He does it for his glory and to make us more like Jesus, whose whole life could be called a waiting game.

He waited for his disciples, he waited for the crowds, he waited for his parents, he waited for crucifixion, he waited for glorification, and he is waiting to return.

His life, death, and resurrection are pictures of faithful waiting.
He is our example when waiting seems so horribly hard and contentment feels just out of reach.

Yet he is much more than our example; he is our hope.
When waiting saps you of joy and you feel empty, overwhelmed, and afraid, Jesus is the brother and friend who will give you the strength you need.

God's radical love for you, as shown through his Son's sacrifice, means he's not going to leave you on your own, and his wisdom means he knows waiting is best for you. His empowering grace will help you persevere through the waiting, and will abound when you don't wait well.

And so we need to learn to wait - I need to learn to wait - and recognise how God is working through the waiting.

God doesn't make us wait out of capricious malice but in loving wisdom, and he is working through our waiting. How?

To increase our trust. First and most foundationally, he uses waiting to increase our trust in him and loosen our perceived control.
Waiting reminds us we're at the mercy (literally) of God's timing, and we have no power to change that.

As humans, we crave control, yet waiting pulls that from our grasp.
Waiting pries our fingers from the ledge and confronts us with an uncomfortable question:
"Will we give up on ourselves and trust God wholly?"

Second, God uses waiting to crucify our idol of efficiency.
We live in an accomplishment-driven culture where value is measured and marked by productivity.

As our eyes are taken off ourselves and our idols, waiting changes us.
God uses waiting to make us more humble.
As waiting reveals our spectacular lack of control, it exposes our weakness and vulnerability.

God is in charge, and we are not.
Therefore, we have no reason for pride or boasting.
Instead, we should embrace our weakness in the form of humility and approach God with a proper view of ourselves (Psalm 8:3-4).

I used to think I was a patient person, but waiting revealed just how impatient I was.
I despise delayed gratification; I don't want to be left wondering and guessing.
I want what I want, and I want it now.

But waiting is like a seat belt that buckles me into being patient, a forced lesson in patience.
I have no choice; I have to be patient.

I can either ungratefully fight it or contentedly embrace it.
Patience says we are faithfully trusting in the Lord's timing, not our own.

God uses waiting to test, teach, and train us for what lies ahead.
We need these periods to sanctify us.
And by living faithfully in the midst of them, God will use these years to transform us.

Un-edited version avaiable, on request

Jaquelle Crowe
Jaquelle Crowe is a writer from eastern Canada.
She is a graduate of Thomas Edison State University and the editor-in-chief of TheRebelution.com.
She is the author of This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (Crossway, April 2017).