GodSprings - March 02, 2016

Is My Waiting Time A Wasted Time?

The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven. Nehemiah 2:4 (NIV)

After finishing an apprenticeship, a newly converted young man named William could not find work for an entire year. This was the most difficult trial of his entire life. He was puzzled because God was not answering his persistent prayer for work. He even had a widowed mother who desperately needed his financial help. But God knew that those twelve months of poverty would later give him the unique ability to identify with the poor. William Booth would go on to create The Salvation Army. Sometimes no matter how much we want something to happen, or what we may try in order to make anything happen, all we can do is wait. For most of us, waiting is the hardest part. Are we waiting on God right now? Do we know how to wait with purpose?

The chapter begins with a chronological note that, compared with 1:1, shows us that four months elapsed between the time that Nehemiah heard the report of Jerusalem until his opportunity to speak to the king. During that time, Nehemiah was so burdened by the news that he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for God to do something about the grievous situation in Jerusalem.

Compared to other men in the Bible, whom God used, four months was a pretty short wait. Abraham waited over 25 years for God to give him Isaac. Joseph spent time as Potiphar’s slave and then two years in prison before God elevated him to second beneath Pharaoh. Israel was enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. Moses spent 40 years in the desert before God used him to bring Israel out of Egypt. Then the nation spent 40 more years in the wilderness. David spent his twenties running from King Saul. The apostle Paul spent three years alone in Arabia and more years in obscurity in Tarsus before the Lord began to use him in a more significant manner. At this point, some questions might naturally come to our mind, like: God, are you still there? Did I hear you right? Was that message meant for someone else?

Nehemiah had to wait for God’s timing, but he knew how to wait with purpose. Waiting with purpose means doing just what Nehemiah began to do: pray and wait. Nehemiah prayed, trusting and believing God would make a way (Neh 1:5–11).

Nehemiah had also been planning during his wait, considering in advance what he would need to do the job for God. He wanted to be ready if and when opportunity came. A Civil War saying advises, “trust the Lord, but keep your powder dry!” In other words, God is in control, but we should still be prepared. Praying, planning, and waiting on God always precede serving God. The sooner we learn to wait God’s way, the sooner we can be used to build God’s way.