Lonnie Riley, USA
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31
What does God accomplish through our waiting? The most important thing is that, if we will let Him, He will make our hearts right with Him. If our hearts are out of tune, we won’t do what He wants us to do no matter how many times or how loudly He speaks. So, in a time of waiting, God will lead us to surrender completely to His will and teach us how to release our dreams to Him.
In a time of waiting, God teaches us to distinguish wants from needs. I am 100 percent convinced that if our hearts are right with Him, when we ask something of Him, He will give it every single time. But I am just as convinced that God will not give us what we think we want, but what we need to have a strong relationship with Him. In a time of waiting, He can help us learn that it’s not about us, but it’s all about Him.
In a time of waiting, God matures our faith as we become more dependent on Him. God helps us understand what faith in Him really is. Faith is relational, not merely intellectual. God does not want us to have faith that something will happen—He wants us to have faith in Him who causes things to happen.
In a time of waiting, God grows our confidence in Him as we learn to rest in the assurance that what He has promised He will bring to pass in His time and His way. In that process comes renewed strength. The prophet put it this way: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31—KJV).
In a time of waiting, God teaches us to pay attention to His activity and become more aware of how He continually works in the world. I often wonder if, in my former life, would I have even noticed how God worked, or would I have been too busy making things happen to see the hand of God? Would I have slowed down long enough to recognize God at work, or would I have moved on to another item on my agenda?
In a time of waiting, God teaches us to act on what He places before us, no matter how insignificant those things seem. Waiting is not inactivity; it often is opening our eyes to see what is at hand that needs to be done and then doing it.
We’ve learned that when God seems silent, He is still active in our lives and in His world. We’ve learned that when we respond to the seemingly little things He sets before us, our faith increases and our walk with Him deepens. And that deeper walk is the greatest reward of faith.
We’ve learned that when we respond in faith, He turns the seemingly little things into big things that bring glory to Him and Him alone. In a nutshell, we learned that faith is not a leap into the dark, but a step into the light.