What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for right now?

Is it a new job? A spouse? A child? An opportunity? A next step? A dream? 

We’re all waiting on something. We are all in between what was and what’s to come. There’s tension in the waiting, but waiting is not weakness.

Waiting is not weakness.

I have a history of some pretty wild dreams. I have experienced very intense demonic attacks in my dreams, but I have also experienced the very real voice of God in my dreams. And in a recent dream, He told me what He wanted me to tell you now.

In the dream, I was preaching this message, and I kept saying over and over, “Waiting is not weakness.” I remembered the dream the next day and went to Psalm 27:14.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

It says wait for The Lord TWICE, so it must be important. We wait for God, and while we wait, we aren’t being weak or lazy or unproductive, we are being strong. The verse says be STRONG and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Waiting is a strength. It can be a superpower if we use it the right way. We wait because we know Who is holding whatever is on the other side of this waiting.

The definition of wait is to “stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens,”  according to the Google dictionary.

We stay until a particular time. We don’t make our own moves. We hold out and have hope. Our confidence is in the Waymaker and the Dreamweaver. Our next move is up to the One Who got us to the place we’re waiting in today.

We wait for miracles. We wait for loved ones to be saved. We wait for hearts to be changed.

But while we wait, we ask, we pray, and we believe. 

When I think of waiting, I think of our friend Joseph and his coat of many colors. He certainly didn’t wait to let his brothers know about the dream that got him thrown into a pit and sold into slavery, but he had to learn to wait as he sat in a jail cell, wondering when the dream God gave him would come true. 

Doesn’t waiting sometimes feel like a prison? We feel trapped, wondering if we will ever get out. Waiting can feel hopeless. It can feel dark. But we keep holding on.

Genesis tells us that God was kind to Joseph while he was waiting in prison. He made everything that he did successful, according to Genesis 39: 23. And so Joseph kept waiting. He interpreted the dreams of two other prisoners and he told one of the prisoners that he’d get out in three days and be restored to his position. And then Joseph said to cellmate, “Please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place.” Genesis 40:41 (NLV)

And just like Joseph predicted, the prisoner was released and restored to his position under Pharaoh, but he forgot Joseph. The scripture literally says, “he forgot him.” 

What a punch in the gut. To be forgotten. To watch someone else be released and restored while you are still waiting. To wonder if it will ever be your turn. 

But waiting is not weakness. 

While Joseph waited, God was preparing him for a very prestigious position, one worth waiting on. Joseph went all Psalm 27:14! He was strong, he took heart, and he waited for the Lord. And in Genesis 41, it says at the end of two years — two YEARS — not two days, not two months, two YEARS, Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted, and Joseph was the one for the job. 

The same gift that got Joseph thrown in a pit got him promoted to the palace.

The same gift that walked him into the waiting walked him right out.

Our waiting is not weakness. It is God’s provision and protection preparing us for our position. 

Our position as a spouse, as a friend, as a leader, or as a parent. Our waiting prepares us.

The enemy will try to trick us into thinking we aren’t doing enough or we should be climbing the ladder faster or going on more dates or sending out more resumes to speed up the waiting process. 

But when God asks us to wait, it’s because He wants us to stay right where we are and watch Him work.

I’ve been guilty of feeling weak while I wait. I brainstorm ways to make my dreams come true faster. I beg God to speed it all up and get me to where I know I’m going. But He continues to whisper, “Wait. Wait on me. I promise it will be worth it.”

So how do we make waiting a strength?

We wait with expectation.

We wait with excellence.

We wait with excitement.

We wait with expectation that what God has us waiting for is worth the wait not because of what it is but because of WHO He is. If He led us here, then He will lead us onward. We wait with expectation by having hope in Jesus.

We wait with excellence. If we are to do all things with excellence, waiting is no exception. We can wait well by staying in The Word and spending time with God daily to talk to Him about our waiting season. He gives peace that surpasses all understanding in every situation. Waiting with Him is waiting well done.

We wait with excitement. We have the ability to choose joy in every circumstance. Rather than waiting with anxiety or fear, we can wait with excitement! We’ve seen God move in our lives before, right? So why wouldn’t we be full of awe and wonder for what He’s going to do next? He’s an exciting God, so we can have fun while we wait.  We wait with excitement by remembering what He has done before.

Wait with expectation, excellence, and excitement. That’s how waiting can become a strength instead of a weakness. Waiting on the Lord is putting all our trust and faith in Him, the strongest and most powerful One. The math just doesn’t add up for our waiting to be weakness when we wait with Him.

Let’s resist the urge to speed up the process, and, instead, tap into the strength we have to wait on The Lord.