Are You Waiting in God’s Waiting Room?
Is God teaching you something while you are waiting for an answer from Him? Are you listening to Him? Do you pray for patience?
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Recently my husband and I were waiting for a connecting flight in a large airport. Our first flight arrived early enough to be able to request an earlier “standby flight” for our last leg of the trip home. We had already been in the airport about five hours and we were anxiously waiting for our “standby status” to be cleared. As weary travelers, we didn’t want to wait three more hours for our reserved flight. We prayed and waited while we watched the monitor for our “stand-by” clearance. Finally, the agent gave us clearance to board the plane.
This scenario reminded me of my prayer life. Many times, I have to wait and “standby” for God’s answer. God doesn’t always answer my prayers immediately when I pray and I have to wait in God’s waiting room for a while. Our society has conditioned us to expect immediate results. We find it very difficult to wait for anything.
In I John 5:14 we read, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” God always hears our prayers for our needs, desires, or wishes. Yet He may not be ready to answer them. While we are in God’s waiting room He may want to build our character, teach us patience, or it may not be the right time for the prayer to be answered. Spiritual growth may take place in our lives while we are learning to trust Him for the answer.
We must ask, wait, and trust Him for the answers to our prayers. He may answer our prayers more abundantly than we can ask, in His timing. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
Isn’t it wonderful that we can have the privilege of leaving our needs, concerns, and wishes with the Lord? Ask Him for patience as you wait for Him to answer.
Dear Lord, thank you for the promise in your Word that You hear my prayers when I pray. Teach me the things You want me to learn while I am waiting. Give me patience as I wait for You to accomplish Your will. Help me to trust You for Your timing while I wait for You to answer more abundantly than I have asked. Amen.
Questions: Are you sitting in God’s waiting room for an answer to your prayers right now? What is the Lord teaching you while you wait?
About Lillian Penner
Daily podcast: A second daily devotional, How to Pray Effectively, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog
Tags: answer, desires, immediate, needs, patience, pray, prayer, standby, wait, waiting, wishes
18 Responses to “Are You Waiting in God’s Waiting Room?”
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I am in the waiting room now, waiting for an answer about a relationship. I know it will take time…and nothing about change is comfortable, is it? But while I’m waiting, I’m coming to realize there are things about me God may want to change and build in me as well. If I lose the man I love, I can only hope God will heal and let me know there is someone better in the future.
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HI I TOO AM WAITING .ON GOD.HE IS BUILDING CHARACTER IN US AND ME.DON’T GET DICOURAGED HE HAS GOOD PLANS FOR US ALL GOD BLESS.
DON’T GIVE UP. TO ALL ON THIS SITE I AM WAITING TOO . GOD IS FAITHFUL.HE LOVES YOU.
[...] (3) Lillian Penner asks if we “Are You Waiting in God’s Waiting Room?”: [...]
Dear Anonymous,
I have been ministered to thru the ladies here too…..I know how important we are to each other. Know I will keep you in my prayers…….Praise God for all who write here, who minister His love and those of us that are ministered His love thru the sharing of His love in our lives.
[...] http://thelife.com/blogs/experience/devotionalforwomen/2008/11/21/are-you-waiting-in-god%E2%80%99s-w... [...]
Sister Patti,
Thank you so much for sharing your heart with me, and many sisters. I guess the Lord has used this forum to minister to me, when I couldn’t be minstered to in other ways. Thanks so much for your honesty – I know the Lord used it to help many sisters.
I was really encouraged, b/c many of the words you shared, I went thru the exact same feelings at times. I pray the Lord will continue to bless & help you, as well as continue to lift me out of these times. Wow, I was amazed to read some of your words. I took some time to reflect on your words (hence the late reply), and I thank God for using a sister to help me. God bless you. And it’s good that you always think of a song, or His word with what you share – b/c it’s a reminder of His truth. May God continue to help us thru these days. God bless.
Anon….there was a time, I saw no light….no end to the darkness that enveloped me. I never realized that I, a child of the Kind, could feel so trapped in a pit with no light. My heart was broken…shattered in thousands of pieces and there seem no way ever for it to be mended. I felt hopeless and alone…and discouraged that I could ever be helped. I felt unloveable and doomed to live in my own dark world of insanity.
Friends and family prayed for me…as I could not even pray for myself. Slowly, many days, hanging on day by day and even moment by moment, I began to find my way out of the pit. Ultimately, even tho many helped me in different ways, it was the Lord Who took my hand, and brought me through the waters and the fires. Yes, He walked me through them as it was necessary to take me thru the refining process…so that one day, I could share His love with others.
There were days that I had to find my only comfort…under His wing and that was staying on my knees…as He interceded to the Father for me. I love the old hymn…”He Hideth my sould in the cleft of the rock.” What a loving and safe place to be….and as the hymn goes on….”and covers me there with His Hand”
It is difficult, Anon….but He promises to walk with us…never to leave or forsake us. His Word is true. Lean into Him, allow Him to draw you close…under His wing. Seek Him and surrender every part of you as you take His Hand and walk into the unknown, trusting like a child.
I will be praying for you.
anonymous,
your honesty gives comfort to anyone who is reaching out in a format such as this and although prayers are being said to the Lord for trials, the Lord will answer in His time, not ours. I realize that 3 years seems like too long in hearing or experiencing the answers you long for. trust and patience is the right way to continue the strength you are doing. I just read this morning 1 Peter 1:8 which says, ”Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” God’s speed and ‘this too shall pass’.
kanj
I also just wanted to comment on some of what you sisters shared.. I was blessed by each of your sharing, because I can relate to it too. Heather, I like how ‘real’ you were in your response – that’s the plain truth, so many times as humans we just simply hate waiting! That’s why it’s so hard!
Patti, tears actually came to my eyes when I read your passage b/c I guess I am sort of coming out of that kind of state, and it has been so hard, and seemingly so long. I really pray God continues to help me thru whatever it is He wants to bring me through, and for strength!! Please pray a prayer of protection over me, as God continues to do His thing. But thank you all for being so honest, it really helps others who might be going thru similar things. God bless you.
Wow, I was so blessed by this message, thank you for sharing this. That is certainly where I seem to be at, waiting for God to ‘move’ in various areas of my life (for the past 3 years!) Please pray a prayer for me, that I would not be discouraged, depressed or upset, or look at ‘others’ who are seemingly ‘having fun’ while I am in this waiting period.. (I am just being honest), and that I would not be afraid, but trust God & let Him do His work. I am encouraged to know that it’s during these times He builds character, and other virtues. I pray He does that in me too. God bless you sisters.
lillian, thank you for your impeccable timing. I, like many others I’m sure, have experienced the ‘waiting’. I am in fact, ‘waiting’ for guidance in regards to a loved one’s trauma. I receive encouragement through scripture and know that in His time, the answer will come as to how I can help this loved one. so I will diligently pray, wait, and listen, pray, wait, and listen.
I remember a particular time I was going through some severe emotional pain. I wanted so much for God to just heal me, as I knew He could. I didn’t want to wait…as each day was so painful and many days, I wondered if I could face another.
I look back now and see His Hand all over my life…particularly during that time….people that He brought into my life to minister and people that left my life and left me feeling lost.
God never left me tho… He was so patient with me, even when I turned my back on Him.
I see so many around me, that are waiting upon God…for some deep emotional or physical need…..and I think of so many of us who are praying that God will do something about circumstances in our lives. It is those times, while we wait, as hard as it is, we must continue to trust Him. It is through those times of waiting and sometime walking thru the fire, He teaches us so much…and we come out changed forever.
Never would I want to walk that path again, but how I praise Him for it. As I reflect on it today, I realize the He is the closest to us, in those waiting rooms.. He truly never leaves us..never forsakes us even in our greatest trials and sorrows. Thank You Lord, for those waiting rooms of my life!
When I saw what lay before me,
Lord, I cried, What will You do?
I thought He would just remove it
But He gently led me through..
Without fire, there’s no refining..
Without pain, no relief..
Without flood, there’s no rescue..
Without testing, no belief..
Through the fire
Through the flood
Through the waters
Through the blood
Through the dry and barren places..
Through life’s dense and maddening mazes..
Through the pain and through the glory
Through will always tell the story
ABBA GOD!
Whose power and mercy
Will not fail to take us through.
(permission 2005 Gaither Music Company?
God’s waiting room is kind of like the waiting room in the Doctor’s office. We don’t want to be there but the wait can bring healing.
We don’t grow in comfortable circumstances. After going through a long waiting period we often look back and thank God for the experience of seeking His face so closely.
Don’t give up waiting.
Blessings,
It is hard to wait in the natural but on the Spiritual side of things we know that waiting helps us to grow and trust in God. What we need to look at is what are we doing in our walk with God while we’re waiting or going through storms. Are we praying, encouraging, praising, trusting and rejoicing. God says to count it all joy. Waiting to me brings you to a place with God that you never would of did on your own. It’s a step you never would of took. So don’t give up because the answer or blessing is there, it’s just not God’s timing.
I hate waiting! I think even if I had been born in another era, I would be impatient… it’s part of my nature and it makes me a good social worker, but terrible in my personal life when I just need to sit still and let God solve problems in His time.
yes i am sitting in Gods waiting room hopefully i will learn something while i wait