A CUP OF COLD WATER

  Waiting Season 

Waiting seasons are usually precursors to the next level of our lives. They are seasons of incubation in which it appears as if nothing is happening, but they must run their course if we are to benefit from them. For the follower of Jesus, the waiting season may be orchestrated by God to conform our character more to that of Jesus Christ. 

Many people in the Holy Bible went through waiting seasons. Abraham and Sarah waited twenty-five years for their promised son, Isaac (Genesis 12:1-4, 21:5). David waited about fifteen years to be crowned king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:11–13; 2 Samuel 5:4). Joseph waited thirteen years for his dream to come to pass after which he was made governor in Egypt (Genesis 41). Moses waited forty years to be the deliverer for Israel and he led them out of slavery in Egypt (Acts 7:23-29; Exodus 7:7). Prophet Habakkuk was told that the vision God gave him about Israel was for an appointed time and that he should wait for it (Habakkuk 2:3). 

While these people waited for their hope to be realised, they faced many challenges, but reaped great benefits too. Sarah was called barren, which, at the time, was a reproach to her womanhood, but by the time her promised son, Isaac, was born, she proved God faithful to His word and trusted Him. David lived in caves, wilderness strongholds, and sometimes in enemy territory as he ran away from King Saul, who was intent on killing him, but he and his men received help from several people and he acknowledged God as his protector who saved him on numerous occasions. Joseph suffered hatred, false accusation, imprisonment and ingratitude while waiting to realise his dream, but when his dream came to pass and he became governor of Egypt, he said to his brothers who came to Egypt and bowed before him to ask for food: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Moses lived in exile for forty years, unable to return to his country, until God called him to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage.

In our fast-paced world, we do not want to wait for anything. We do not want to wait in line, so we have drive-through options, home deliveries, and ATM bank cards to conduct banking business even when the bank is closed. We do not want to wait for the fruit to ripen on the tree, so we device interventions to hasten the ripening process. Gone are the days of the telephone landline; now our smartphones are available every waking moment so we can reach each other in an instant. We meet online, shop online, study online, do business online, and with a press of the button, we can make major transactions across continents, online. So, we have almost lost the ability to wait. We want it, and we want it now!

Waiting seasons are not pleasant times, and they can be a challenge to our faith, especially when we can see that the situation is not improving or that what we want seems to be slipping out of our hands. In Proverbs 13:12, we read: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Whether our waiting season is as a result of what we hope for or what God promised us, waiting requires faith and trust in God who is able to make our desire a reality. Our attitude during waiting should be one of patience, quiet hope, constant prayer and the putting away of fear and anxiety. We should stand on God’s promises, keep our confessions positive, despite the negative things around us, and keep our eyes on God, thanking Him in advance for what He will do. 

We should stay in the waiting season until our deliverance comes and not find ways to circumvent it, like Abraham and his wife, Sarah. As a result of their impatience to wait for God’s promised heir, Sarah gave her maid, Hagar, to Abraham as wife, to bear him an heir (Genesis 16:1-4). Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, but he was not the promised heir, and Abraham had to wait for his heir to come through Sarah (Genesis 17:18–21). Our confidence to wait on God is that we do not wait in vain; our strength is renewed and we experience new dimensions of God as we wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31).

The answers we wait for come in different ways as determined by God. Sometimes you get what you waited for, sometimes you get something better and sometimes you do not get what you waited for. When you do not get what you waited for, remember that God is still God, and if you keep waiting on Him, He will surely come through for you.