This post is an excerpt from my eBook: 7 Words Your Soul Needs In a Waiting Season. The end of the post tells how you can get your FREE copy.
We hate to wait. We squirm when God answers our prayers with that dreaded word. But what if when God says, “Wait,” we hear one of its synonyms? What if wait were pronounced expect?
expect [ik-spekt] : to look forward to; regard as likely to happen; anticipate the occurrence or the coming of
When I was a kid, our family had only one car because my mother didn’t drive. If I had to stay after school for extra-curricular activities, I often had to wait for my father to pick me up on his way home from work. Sometimes the wait seemed very long, but I always knew that he would come. I never doubted that Dad’s car would pull into the school parking lot. I waited with expectation.
King David also waited with expectation. He wrote:
Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5:3).
The Hebrew word for wait in David’s psalm—qavah—can mean “to wait or look eagerly for.” I am certainly not eager to wait. But I can look eagerly for God’s answer to my problems. Just like I was always sure my dad’s blue sedan would eventually stop in front of the school door, I can be positive that my heavenly Father has a solution to my waiting dilemma.
At times, it may feel like that answer will never appear. We wait on and on. Hours, days, months, years pass by.
And it’s true, God’s solution may not look exactly like we envisioned. But we can still bring our requests to Him, place them in His hands, and then sit back and watch what He will do. We can wait with the sure hope that the Father has our best interests at heart. We can expect His love and peace in the middle of the delay. We can count on His presence to guide us. We can anticipate blessings that we can’t even imagine yet.
When God says, “Wait,” hear:
Expect
Don’t imagine for even one minute that God has forgotten you.
Don’t doubt that He is working out the best plan for your life.
Don’t fear that He has abandoned you.
Expect
Lay your requests in God’s hands and watch what He will do.
Anticipate a better outcome than you can imagine right now.
Rely on the Father’s immeasurable love for you.
Next step: Pray:
Father, sometimes when I’m waiting, it seems like You will never show up. I keep watching. I keep looking for a sign that You have heard my prayer. But through the promises in Your Word, I know that You always listen for my voice. You always have a wonderful plan for my life. So I bring you this yearning in my heart. I place it in Your hands. I am waiting expectantly. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
This post was an excerpt from my new eBook: 7 Words Your Soul Needs in a Waiting Season.
In it, you will discover seven words that can mean wait. Seven words that can give hope and purpose in the middle of delay. Seven words your soul needs in a waiting season.
It’s FREE! Just sign up for my encouraging monthly newsletter and you will receive this devotional eBook with seven lessons on waiting, plus beautiful graphics of my favorite waiting Scriptures that you can print and frame.
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