Resized_Faith_DoubtAre you looking to God to intervene in one or more areas of your life? Desperate for change or something better? Tired of waiting for a breakthrough? I know how wearisome it can be when we find ourselves in a seemingly perpetual state of waiting. I readily admit that waiting on God to move on our behalf is one of the most difficult challenges we face as followers of Christ. Days stretch into weeks and months, perhaps even years, and the enemy of our soul tempts us to think that God has forsaken us. Doesn’t care. Left us on the shelf of life. But those are lies. Thinking Him unkind, uncaring, and unconcerned, some of us distance ourselves from God. Yet He is our only Hope.

Although it’s cliche, God’s ways are always right and His timing is truly perfect—Scripture reassures us of this truth (see Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Samuel 22:31; Psalm 18:30; 145:17). Although we know this in our heads, it’s entirely another thing to embrace it with our hearts. As a result, we’re often tempted to misinterpret God’s timing. We want what we think we need and we want it now. We so easily lose sight of the reality that God sovereignly allows us to go through difficult and sometimes extremely hard circumstances in order to mold us, shape us, and fit us for the good works He has called us to. The truth is that if God were to answer our prayers according to our desires, the very things we pray for today would likely bring about even greater challenges and setbacks in the future. Undoubtedly, they would only undermine God’s workmanship in our lives. Ephesians 2:10 teaches, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Plainly said, God is determined to make something great out of each of us. And He is far more concerned about our holiness than our happiness.

Delays don’t mean that God is detached from our circumstances. God hasn’t forgotten us nor will He ever forget us  because His love for us is steadfast. Unfailing. Unrelenting. Unshakable. He is intimately acquainted with all that we go through—the good, the bad, and everything in between. And He is wise and judicious. If you’re blessed to be a parent, you know that there’s nothing good you’d withhold from your child; on the contrary, you’d firmly deny those requests and even urgent pleas that you know in the long run would only be detrimental. Our heavenly Father is the perfect parent! He cares for us with a depth of fatherly love that we can’t even begin to fathom. Even while we wait, God is working in a myriad of different ways that we often cannot perceive or understand, all to the end of bringing about our greatest good and to display His glory.

Thus waiting is truly a gift.

While we figuratively can see only a section of the beautiful tapestry God is weaving with our lives, we must trust that He already sees it in its entirety. He knows what He is doing. And He never makes a mistake!

I’m learning to embrace more deeply that our heavenly Father cares about us no less when we’re in the valley of trials, struggles, challenges, uncertainties, despair… as He does when we’re on the mountaintop shouting, “All is well with my soul!” If you’re in a season of waiting, maybe God is calling you to a place of greater surrender and trust in Him. Waiting is akin to persevering. God’s goal in having us persevere is to refine us and purify our faith, just as it did in saints of old. Take heart in this truth: “For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” Isaiah 64:4.