Your Time of Waiting Is A Preparation
Psalm 27:13-14
13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Isaiah 40:31
31 but 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.
Micah 7:7
7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
In April of next year, if God says the same, I will be with the company that I currently work for, for twenty-five years. I remember thinking when I first went to work for this company, that I did not just want to sell the products, but that I wanted to go into management and become a Sales Director. In order to become a Sales Director, I had to go through a qualification process. The qualification process had to be completed within a four-month time period. I tried several times and did not make it. I was determined that I would not give up, no matter what. This was my goal and I was going to make it happen. In my mind, giving up was not an option. I even wrote on my bathroom mirror in bright red lipstick, Quitting Is Not an Option! I was serious about this, but what I didn’t take into consideration, was that God had a purpose in delaying my victory.
I know now that God was preparing me through this process for leadership. He was building my character in the areas that I needed to grow in. I wanted the position, but I didn’t realize that I hadn’t been fully willing to pay the price. It was in the trying, failing, praying, and waiting, that God revealed more and more to me about myself and my character. During the waiting period, and after much prayer, God revealed my weaknesses to me. He also revealed the areas that I needed to grow in if I wanted to become a leader.
Many times we want what we want, and we want it now! If we will patiently wait and spend time with God, in time He will reveal the things that we need to know or the things that we need to change so that our blessing won’t be a short-lived one. How many times do we see things happen quickly for someone, but it’s not sustainable, because of how it was achieved?
There are times when it seems like God is not listening, because we don’t see His hand moving, but I can assure you from my past experience that He hears every prayer. Some things that we ask for simply require a period of preparation, and we will not receive them until we are prepared to receive them. Also, not everything that we ask for is good for us at the time that we ask. We must trust God’s timing, His will, and His divine purposes. We must trust that no matter how bad we want something, He still sees further down the road than we can see. He sees the big picture and he will only allow what is best for us.
I am happy to say that after praying and asking God to bless me with the position of Sales Director for six years, He finally said yes. By God’s grace, eighteen years later I am still holding the position of Sales Director and I get to lead an incredible team. I can honestly say, that I don’t know if that would be the case if He had given it to me when I initially asked. God knew that even though I thought I was ready for leadership, I was not. He protected me from myself and I am grateful for that. He prepared me for the position and then He said yes.
What have you been praying or pleading with God for, that maybe you are not ready for just yet? Are you willing to trust God’s timing and His reasons for asking you to wait a little longer? Remember, your waiting period is a time of preparation.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.[a]
Psalm 37:7
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalm 130:5
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
