For those of you who have been in the military or know people who have spent a significant portion of their life in the military, this is likely a familiar phrase. Keep waiting. Maybe when you're done waiting you can wait some more. After that, while participating in some more waiting, you can wait for a decision to be made that might be close deciding how things will get done.
And so on and so forth.
I think at some point in our lives we all experience this to a certain degree. Waiting on college acceptance letters, a play callback, a call from that guy that interviewed you for a job, and a few bigger things, like waiting until you are financially secure so you can have a family. Waiting on the return of a loved one. And on goes the wait...
The trouble with waiting is that it's one of a few things in life that can easily lead to extreme disillusionment. Humans are fallible critters and we have the tendency to forget why we bothered to wait in the first place. It's hard to wait for a reward that's not there to satisfy you, namely because it's not right there to satisfy you. Sometimes the thing you are waiting for seems to be turning into something that you aren't entirely convinced you're still willing to wait for. Other times it just seems too long and we decide to settle. When something is not within our possession, when it is not tangible and concrete, it tends to be distorted a bit. It can become less applicable to our lives and therefore less important for us to work to protect. It adds a lot of ambiguity to the future, and we tend to not like that. (at least I don't. Now don't lie. You don't like it either.)
However, it is worth the wait. God teaches us throughout the Bible and we learn through many experiences in life that the biggest things are indeed 100% worth waiting for. When King Saul was faced with a Philistine army on his doorstep, he wanted to take the war to them with a preemptive strike and then meet them on the field of battle. Samuel, God's prophet at the time, had instructed that Saul wait for Samuel's arrival and performance of a ceremony to give the battle to the Lord. Saul, however, giving in to fear and trying to save face in front of his men, decided to do the ceremony himself and then engage the Philistines. This did not end well. This was actually the beginning of the end for the reign of Saul. Not a good way to go about doing things.
We are instructed to wait upon the Lord. If we choose to follow His plan and pray for guidance in His direction, we will not fail. This does not mean that we will never hit dead ends, and sometimes people see this as their God failing them. In actuality, it's simply the start of another path. Is this cliche? Yes, to a great degree it is, but let me tell you, I have experienced this to a great degree. Being raised in the home I was, I was taught to analyze and process and PLAN like no other. Now that my girlfriend happens to be 9000 miles away (that's a guesstimate, don't hold me to that), there's a lot of waiting going on. There's a lot of ambiguity too. Will we last this whole time? Does she really still feel the way she did when she left? What kind of person will I become through this experience? Will we be just as compatible when she returns? All of these are variables and I have problems with implicit differentiation of functions as it is, I don't need to have these kinds of variables jumping out of my homework into my personal life. But that's the way it goes. Remember this: God has found it necessary for you to be right here, right now, in your life. What are His reasons? Where will His plans take you? This is unknown, but who better to trust than the One who knows every angle and crevice of our universe?
When you find yourself waiting for something, practice patience. No matter where God's plan for your life will be taking you through this wait, it is ALWAYS an opportunity to learn patience, self control, and peace. Peace that only He can give. So hurry up and wait. He'll direct you exactly when you need it.
