The Waiting Game

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a rut? Like if only things were a certain way, everything would be better? There is something so depressing about being just out of reach of something. 

In our minds, we can imagine how things would be in our idealistic reality – even if we don’t expect perfection for our lives, even if we account for some uncomfortable or even difficult things, it’s still enough to drive us crazy when we can’t have what we want.

Today I was sulking about something and whining to myself that I am such a martyr for enduring this torture of not getting what I want. After all, I am a pretty good person.

That’s when I started laughing at myself.

A particular story from the Bible jumped into my head – one with Abraham and his son, Isaac. Abraham had direct instructions from the Lord that were clear-cut and without much of an explanation. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Can you imagine anything more horrifying than sacrificing your beloved child?? I can’t begin to comprehend the pain and conflict that Abraham must have gone through. He loved Isaac more than his own life. Isaac was the promised son that he had waited decades to hold in his arms, and now God required his life as an offering.

Do you think Abraham wanted to kill his son? Of course he didn’t! But he trusted that God knew what He was doing when He asked such a momentous task. Although Abraham probably felt a sick twist in his gut as he climbed that mountain, he kept on going, not even letting on to Isaac as to the true purpose of their journey.

Aaaaand then there’s me. My problems seem so trivial in comparison, yet I do not have the faith to trust that the Lord has planned my life out for my own good! Perhaps things are not going the way I would like for them to, but I don’t have the big picture in front of me. 

Rather than accept this period as a time for waiting, my impulsive, do-it-yourself nature wants to jump in there and “get ‘er done”. In fact, that’s exactly how Abraham acted before Isaac was born! Although the Lord had said he would have a son, he went and married a handmaiden in addition to the childless wife he already had. The result was two half brothers who would be at odds for generations to come.

I think he learned a valuable lesson from that experience that I can take from as well.

Right now, I may not see what’s around the corner for me. That may get under my skin. It may make me want to scream to the heavens, but that is the way it should be. Us trusting that He will take care of us always. God doesn’t let us have the things we want simply because we act a certain way or because we do things in such a way that we consider ourselves “good people”. In actuality, there is no such person.

There is a time for everything. A time to trust, a time to hope, and a time to wait.