Waitby Russell Kelfer
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, "Wait."
"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.
"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"
He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine
. . . and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.
"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.
"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.
"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.
"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."
-I came across this poem by one of my roommates' bed this morning. And I had to share it. How often is our timing the Lord's? Rarely! So many times He has asked me to wait. To wait for His answer and to trust that He would give me an answer eventually! When we are called to wait on Him, it causes us to seek His face every day, to be patient, to ask ourselves how much we truly trust our Savior. He won't leave us hanging. He will tell us what He wants us to know in HIS timing. Dad not having a job right now... we are waiting. Our lakehouse hasn't sold yet... we are waiting. I'm going to be applying for jobs as soon as next week and I'm sure... I will be waiting. Hopefully waiting patiently and contently, but due to the fact that I'm sinful and I want things my own way, I probably will wrestle with God a bit or question Him and His ways. But I know that the waiting for Him, trusting in Him, and seeking Him is going to just draw me ever closer to Him.
And if that be the end result of waiting, growing closer to Him, then waiting is actually a gift. Not an annoyance or something to get uspet about. But it's a gift. What in my plans could possibly give me something that's better than drawing closer to my Jesus?
Nothing. So let's wait. Let's wait patiently for His answers, and let's rejoice in the fact that through the waiting, He is drawing us to Himself and making us more like Him.
