Waiting..Still Waiting

There are many times I ask God for things, very specific things, and there are many times the complete opposite happens. For example, I was driving to youth service at my church last Wednesday, and if I had all green lights then I would’ve made it on time. The light I prayed for to be green.. was red for 10 minutes. (Not exaggerating.. It skipped my rotation 4 times.) I was frustrated and angry because I wasn’t meeting my timeline. Read that last sentence again. MY timeline. In the midst of begging the light to turn green I turned my worship music off. I silenced Him when I needed Him the most. God must have a very good sense of humor because every single light I went through on my way home was green. Ya’ll.. I go through a lot of lights.

I was reflecting on the shenanigans that occurred prior to service, and I noticed a few things:

1. God used that moment to build my character. Many times He places us in uncomfortable situations because He cares more about refining us than our comfort. We ask God to change our situation when a lot of times He put us in that situation to change us, and help us grow.

2. God was trying to teach me something. He was teaching me patience. Patience to sit at a red light with a good attitude. Sometimes God tells us to “wait” and instead of using that time to praise Him, we sit there and sulk. Grow your relationship with Him in the hallway while you are waiting for the door to be opened.

3. God was also trying to teach me to have faith in Him. Have faith in His timeline because His plan is much better than mine. Have faith that He will get me through the waiting season. Don’t turn off the worship music, don’t silence God just because you want to have a pity party for yourself. When I don’t want to hear what God has to say is usually when I need to have a conversation with Him the most. Many times God’s “wait” is protection or He’s preparing you for what is to come.

4. Praise Him even when it doesn’t go your way. I turned my worship music off because I didn’t want to hear about Jesus right then. Some of ya’ll just caught your breath, but I’m being honest. If you’re honest with yourself, then you know you’ve been there too. I didn’t want to hear about peace, kindness, and grace. I wanted this light to turn green, so I could continue with my plans for the night. But that was just it.. God was ready to have a conversation and the moment I had to be still I got frustrated. It was the same feeling I had when quarantine first started. I was forced to be still, and it was against MY plan, but God knew I needed it. When are we going to start trusting that God is on our side, and has an incredible plan set out for our lives?

John 11:4-7 is the beginning of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

“4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days. 7 Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

Jesus waited. He could have left immediately to go raise Lazarus from the grave, but He waited. He stayed where He was for two days because He was setting up for a miracle. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, were in a waiting period.

“12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”

Jesus was going to raise someone from the dead. He waited, so that people would truly believe.

God gives us the opposite answer we are looking for sometimes because He either wants to teach us something or prepare us for the blessing. A waiting season is a blessing in disguise. If you pray for flowers, don't be surprised when it starts raining.