While I'm waiting...I'm growing

    While I’m waiting I’m getting stronger
​    My faith is rising and I will run on
    While I’m waiting I’m lifting up on
​    wings as eagles
    I believe I will trust in You.     
    (While I’m Waiting by Travis Greene)
The whole topic of waiting can be a ticklish one. The questions may arise: “How do I wait? What do I do while I wait? Should I be passive or active?” I certainly don’t have all the answers but as I told someone recently, waiting is not necessarily a passive exercise.    
    I think here of David. After he was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel, he continued to live a relatively normal life. He continued to submit himself to the relevant authorities and do as he was instructed. He served king Saul when the latter needed a musician to soothe his troubled spirit and even served his country when they needed a contender to fight against their Philistine enemy, Goliath. I think though that David’s most challenging season of waiting was while he was being pursued by king Saul. He knew he had been anointed king, but here was the present king trying to kill him. Many times he was discouraged and feared for his life. Maybe at times he wondered if he would ever become king.     
    He became the leader of those who were in distress, those in debt and those who were generally discontented (I Samuel 22:2). He could have chosen to keep to himself. Yet, whether or not he realised it, God was preparing him to lead an entire nation. Yes, he feared for his life and made many mistakes during this season, but God was moulding and shaping him more than he realised. He strengthened him in his times of despair and never left him even when he gave up. In this season, David was painfully learning to trust God even as first and foremost he waited on God to deliver him from his enemies.
    Waiting is never an easy season to be in. It can be filled with uncertainty and fear as you wonder when deliverance will come, when and if your dreams will still come true. David said: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). David held on to the fact that while he still alive he would see God’s goodness operating in his life. As bad as things looked for him at times, he held on to hope in God. He ends that Psalm with this encouragement: “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord” (v.14). In spite of it all, David knew that his help would come from the Lord, that God would provide the strength and encouragement needed in difficult times.
    So much can happen while we wait. As I said before, waiting is not necessarily a passive exercise, it can be a very active one. While we wait we can grow, we can learn, we can occupy ourselves constructively. As Isaiah put it, we can even mount up on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31). In short, we can learn to soar, to prosper and thrive while we wait. Jesus never waited for the storm to end, He simply walked on those rough waters and chose to be in control in the midst of the storm! 
    Waiting is NOT a dead season where nothing is happening. In fact, it can be a very active, productive one. It may mean working strategically on the problem; it may also mean allowing God to work in and through us so that when and however God chooses to bring that season to an end, we are more than ready to embrace all that God has in store for us.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to make that step today. Waiting is an inevitable part of life. It may not be an easy season but it is a necessary one. It is in this season that God may do His greatest work in us, moulding and shaping us into what He wants us be.

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