Trusting God by Waiting

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1, NASB).

Waiting is a lost art. Or maybe the real truth is we’ve never been good at waiting. To quote the famous lyrics from a popular Queen song: “I want it all (yes I want it all) / I want it all, hey / I want it all, and I want it now.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt that way about something in your life.

My hand is lifted high, too. I don’t pretend to be immune to this societal drift of getting/having whatever we want without a wait. For me, that is especially true and most difficult when it comes to matters of the heart. I believe God places specific desires on the hearts of every single one of His sons and daughters. Yet, the difficult truth is that if we want everything God has for us, we must succumb to His timeline and almost always, that means waiting. And I’m talking foot-tapping, nail-biting, tantrum-throwing to get what we want, and is-the-time-ever-going-to-come kind of waiting. That’s the thing about God, though. There isn’t a single thing we could ever do that would cause Him to alter the timing of His good and perfect plan for our lives. And I’m so thankful.

Though I’m thankful, and I know we serve a good God who wants to give us the desires of our hearts, I don’t always understand His ways. As a 33-year-old woman who has always had a yearning in my heart to be a wife and mother, I have endured a wide array of emotions, both good and bad, in the waiting. Confusion. Loneliness. Gratitude. Frustration. Trust. Questioning. Seems a bit like a teeter-totter, right? A battle between good and evil. I’m sure you can relate.

Let’s go together to the book of Genesis where our Lord God created heaven and earth and everything in it. Day six brought the creation of man and woman, which eventually leads us to the Garden of Eden where a battle of good vs. evil ensues. In the face of temptation, Eve submits to the deceptive lies of the enemy, eats the forbidden fruit and sin enters the world. God gave her permission to eat the fruit from every single tree in the garden EXCEPT ONE. And of course, that’s where the enemy perched and began to spew lies that would eventually lead Eve to make a creation-altering choice.

If we’re honest, it would be easy to condemn Eve, but in reality, I think we’re all a bit like her. Put yourself in her shoes. You’re standing there in front of the tree staring at a piece of fruit that looks perfect. Crisp. Beautiful in color. Eye-level and easy-to-reach. Though the fruit looked perfect and the situation seemed ideal, it was outside the boundary God provided for her. She was still deceived into believing it would give her everything she wanted, so she ate the fruit. Although we likely won’t find ourselves in a garden being tempted to eat forbidden fruit, I know so many of us are guilty of the very sin Eve committed—reaching instead of waiting and obeying.

For Eve it was a piece of fruit. I’m not sure what it is for you. Maybe it’s giving in when your boss asks you to sacrifice a small piece of your integrity in order to receive a promotion at work you’ve been wanting for so long. Maybe it’s buying a house that’s outside your budget in order to “keep up” with your circle of friends. It could be settling on marrying someone you know in your heart isn’t whom God has for you just because you’re tired of being lonely. Whatever your struggle, the principle is the same. We get tired of waiting, so we reach. We skillfully begin to ignore the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and allow ourselves to “follow our hearts.” Before we know it, we’ve wandered off the narrow path of God’s plan, and we’re lost in the subsequent turmoil of turning from His voice.

Choosing surrender and obedience is hard. It often requires us to go through instead of around. The narrow path is often the most difficult, but it is always the one that leads us to Jesus. As is stated in the seventh chapter of the gospel of Matthew (NLT): “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” The good news is when we choose to turn our ears and hearts toward Jesus, even when we make mistakes, He will always guide us to and through the narrow gate that leads to His kingdom.

For me, I had to find myself overwhelmed and lost in a valley of negative emotions before I began to understand what it means to surrender. Counseling, advice from spiritual mentors, and time in God’s word all contributed to a process of healing that has taught me that, even though it’s difficult, choosing to surrender to God’s will and plan for my life is always better. Though I am still single, I have been able to look back and see all the ways God was protecting me even when I wasn’t getting what I wanted. And though I still have my moments, I have arrived at a place of trusting that God knows best and believing He will one day make me a wife and mother if it is in accordance with His plan for my life.

My prayer is that you will join me on this journey of pursuing Christ while waiting and trusting that God is always good. Waiting on God instead of reaching isn’t easy, and we will certainly be faced with temptation along the way. But when we commit to following Christ instead of our hearts, we open the door for God to give us the desires of our hearts and exceed even the biggest dreams we have for ourselves.