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I am an impatient person. I don’t like waiting. I get annoyed by
slow drivers in fast lanes. I audibly sigh when I get into a long
checkout line. I am quick to remind wait staff in restaurants that
I’m waiting to be seated or served.
“Could it be that what we are waiting for is more important to
us than God?”
Those are trivial situations, yet I still find it hard to wait.
There are bigger, much more important issues that I’ve waited for
as well. I’ve waited an agonizingly long time for healing from my
post-polio. For clarity on which path to take in an important
decision. For restoration of a difficult relationship. For a dear
friend to return to faith. For each, I have waited long past the
time when I thought my requests should have been answered. For many
serious requests, I’m still waiting.
I take comfort in seeing that people in the Bible, like Abraham,
grew impatient too when their prayers and promises didn’t
materialize as they’d hoped.
What Only God Could Do
God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many
nations. And then there was silence. Nothing happened for eleven
long years (imagine where you were eleven years ago). Abraham’s
wife, Sarah, was barren and well past her childbearing years.
After more than a decade of waiting, they both assumed that
perhaps they needed to act on their own to fulfill the promise of
God. So, Abraham took Hagar, Sarah’s servant, and had Ishmael. For
a while, they thought the promises would now come true through
Ishmael.
Thirteen years later, God told them Sarah would bear a son,
Isaac. They had waited so long, neither of them believed God was
going to do it now. Abraham was decidedly unenthusiastic at the
proclamation. After he audibly laughed and inwardly doubted,
Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
(Genesis 17:18).
Abraham had figured out a way to have heirs on his own. The
thought of waiting, being wholly dependent on God, wasn’t part of
his plan. He wanted God to bless what he had done, rather than wait
for what only God could do.
Why We Give Up Waiting
That’s what I often do. I don’t like waiting. I want to act, to
figure it out, to know with certainty what’s going to happen. And
then I want to move ahead. Abraham wanted God to bless Ishmael so
he could have descendants through him. God had something different
in mind, something that unfolded to Abraham over time — something
impossible in the eyes of man.
“Don’t shortcut what God has for you.”
Honestly, often I want Ishmael too. I want the thing I can
figure out, that I have control over, that doesn’t require waiting
and trusting.
What do we do when, like Abraham, our waiting for days turns
into months, which turns into years, which turns into decades? Do
we turn our heart away from God, who seemingly never delivered what
we’re waiting for? If that happens, could it be that what we are
waiting for is more important to us than God?
What God Denies Us
What is happening in our waiting? Is it just an empty space
between our prayers and their fulfillment? No, in our waiting, God
does his deepest work.
God is sanctifying us and teaching us to trust him. Sometimes we
get what we are waiting for, and we rejoice and are grateful. Other
times, we never see that fulfillment on earth, and we are drawn
closer to God as we continue to seek him.
God has not forgotten us. It’s not that our requests are
unimportant. He will answer them in his own time (which is also
always the best time for us). He sees what we cannot see; he knows
the potential dangers and snares he is protecting us from. While
we’re waiting, God is with us. He aches with us, cries with us,
comforts us. He meets us in our pain and uses all our struggles for
our good. One day, we will thank him for everything that he gave
us, and denied us, on this earth.
Pass on the Humanly Possible
Waiting is good for us. It’s painfully easy, however, to grow
weary and take matters into our own hands because it’s taking too
long. It’s tempting to look for Ishmael, to provide for ourselves,
to meet our desires our own way. It may feel like we’re simply
finding another means to an end, but God is in both the means and
the end. Don’t shortcut what God has for you. Don’t give in to
disillusionment. Don’t settle for Ishmael when God has Isaac for
you. Isaac was the son of laughter and promise, the fulfillment of
all God had said. Isaac was worth waiting for.
“One day, we will thank him for everything that he gave us, and
denied us, on this earth.”
Isaac requires faith. It’s scary to let go of a sure thing and
wait for something that may not materialize. We’re afraid we’ll be
left with nothing, wondering why we waited at all. We may reason
that something is better than nothing, and so we are satisfied with
Ishmael. It meets our needs. But Ishmael will never fulfill us
because Ishmael is what we do in our own strength. And we have no
ability to satisfy our deepest desires. We need God to do that. He
may do it through miraculously fulfilling what we asked for, or he
may do it by denying what we asked for and giving us more of
himself. Either way, we will find joy because we
have him.
What is your Ishmael? What are you tired of waiting for and
tempted to take into your own hands? What are you afraid to let go
of because it seems that something is better than nothing? What are
you trusting God for?
Don’t settle for what is humanly possible; wait for what only
God can do.
Risner is a freelance writer and regular contributor to
Desiring God, who blogs at danceintherain.com. She is married to Joel and has two
daughters, Katie and Kristi. She and Joel live in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Vaneetha is the author of the book The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us
in Suffering.
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