Its hard to wait

It is hard to wait. 

I remember the odd occasion of waiting for my parents to come and fetch me after school or school activities. I didn't like to wait but I never thought they wouldn't come. I knew they loved me and wouldn't just leave me there. I trusted them. I guess if they were strangers I would stress quite a bit, because I would have no security to know if they would come or not. But I did know them and they have never abandoned me before, so I knew they were just running late. They still loved me, but for some or other reason beyond my control they were not there when I expected them. My trust in them was based on our relationship. I knew them. I knew what type of people they are. Knowing who they are was what kept me calm and made the waiting more bearable. 

The same goes for our Heavenly Father. Its not hard to trust Him when we know Him. It doesn't make the waiting pleasant but definitely more bearable. Trusting the God I know puts my heart at rest and gives me peace. But it doesn't start with the trust. It starts with learning who He is, getting to know Him through His revelation of Himself to us, the inspired Word, the Bible. 

Sometimes I hear of people who pride themselves in praying or singing to God for hours but hardly ever make the same effort to read their Bibles. That's no way to get to know God, unless our prayers and songs are preceded by an effort to know who He is, as revealed in Scripture. How can you get to know someone if you are always doing all the talking? And God talking to us is no mystical thing. Its plain, written in a language you can understand, with the mind He has given you, on paper you can touch. Its not subjective. Its clear and simple! How thankful I am for that! You don't need to be clever to get to know Him. You don't need to be rich or give a certain amount for Him to hear you. He has promised to reveal Himself to everyone who seeks Him with a broken and a contrite heart. Isn't God amazing that what He requires from us is something all of us can give? It requires humility, not sacrifices. Sadly, few people are willing to give it, but everyone has the capacity to.

In Psalm 51:17, David says, 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;  a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.'
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, 'Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.'   
Psalm 34:18 says, 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.'

(note - this is not like when your boyfriend left you - its about being broken because you realise your sin before a Holy God)

Psalm 9:10 says, 'And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.'

And lastly, Matt 5:3 says, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

(Poor in spirit is the same as broken in spirit.) 

(See also Luke 18:13-14)

What is it about God that we are supposed to know?

The Bible reveals everything about God that we are supposed to know. The most important thing you can do is to study God's attributes, because anything else you might think about Him is just an opinion and will cause you to break the second commandment (Ex 20:3-4). To list just a few of His amazing attributes: He is eternal, immortal, infinite, unchanging (therefore absolutely trustworthy), unequaled, perfect, unfathomable, just, omnipotent, all-powerful, omnipresent, omniscient (He knows the past, present and future), righteous, sovereign, holy, gracious, good, merciful and loving. He is actually unsearchable, meaning we will never fully comprehend who He is because He's so big it totally  surpasses our human minds. And just try to get your head around the fact that He is all of these things perfectly, and at the same time, all the time.

When you start to understand a little bit more of who God is, its easy to trust Him. Just like its easy to trust someone you know well, that you know loves you, and that has never let you down. Except God is perfect. That person is not. 

That, I believe, is the key to waiting on God with a quiet and humble acceptance of His will in my life. If He really is all those things, His plan will not frustrate me. It cannot. Even if I have to wait all my life, knowing Him is enough to quiet my soul and make me content. Whenever I forget who He is (which happens if I don't constantly remind myself) I get anxious and frustrated. But then, like in Job 38 when God finally speaks to poor Job, who didn't know what was happening, I am reminded, of who God is, and that is 
enough. 

Isaiah 26:3-4, 'You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.'

If you're not getting the right answer its because you're asking the wrong question. Its not why? Its WHO?