The Work Is In The Waiting

I am not a very patient person.  Waiting for things has never been my strong suit.  Recently I have been thinking about the idea of waiting seasons.  If you hang around Christian circles long enough you will inevitably hear someone say something like “I am in a waiting season” or “I am waiting for the Lord to do ___” The idea almost seems to be that this waiting season is an in between time a short of hallway between one door of life and another.  

There is this post I’ve seen many times on the internet which states the following “Abraham waited 25 years, Moses waited 40 years, Jacob waited 20 years, Joseph waited 15 years, Jesus waited 30 years.  If God is making you wait, you are in good company.”   There are other various iterations listing how long Noah waited (120 years), how long Sarah waited (10 years), and how long David waited (15 years).  This is all true, these people waited many years for the promise God gave them to be fulfilled.  However I think the post gives the wrong impression.  When I read through this list on the surface it seems like these people were not doing anything during this time, and in turn like God was not doing anything but making them wait.  Maybe I am reading too much into it, but I think all of us at one point or another have thought about waiting seasons in the wrong way.  

In the instant society we live in we forget that the most important lessons we learn take time.  When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery he was not ready to be Pharaoh's right hand man.  It would take him 15 years, being falsely accused, being put in prison, and much more for him to learn what he needed to learn and also for his brothers to be ready to accept him back.  Moses needed those 40 years as a shepherd of sheep to prepare him for the 40 years of being a shepherd for the children of Israel. Before the flood came Noah had to actually build the ark.  The work is done in the waiting.  Waiting season are not hallways but rather spiritual gymnasiums where God is training us up preparing us for what is in store.  All the while He is working on our hearts, on the hearts of those around us, on our circumstances, and in many more ways than we can even begin to imagine.  Do you feel like you are in a season of waiting?  Put in the work, lean in to God, learn the lessons he is teaching you, trust him daily.  When you look back you will find the waiting was the most important part.