The waiting room can seem like a pit, amirite?! It’s difficult to believe, when we are smack in the middle of a waiting season that it may actually be a time that will bless us. Let’s take a look at Psalm 40:1-3.
“I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.”
In this Psalm, we can see five blessings in waiting on the Lord.
We learn patience and how to surrender to His will and timing.
Joyce Meyer is quoted as saying: “Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” We can tell ourselves we’re being patient and yet we’re frustrated, we’re angry, we’re trying to hurry God along and we definitely don’t have a good attitude. Patience doesn’t just happen; it takes practice. I’m still learning but it’s so much better to wait well because otherwise we’re miserable! We can overcome, through God’s help, the misery that accompanies the striving when we’re not waiting well. Friends, it is the fact that we are waiting for GOD that we can have assurance that He will deliver us and that will allow us to expect the deliverance and wait for it.
We experience God’s deliverance from the pit of longing and expectation.
When it rains where I live, we don’t even venture out of our house (except to go to work) because it gets so muddy and gross. Our dirt here is more like clay and it is so thick that your feet will just sink right into it. When my husband and I were first dating, I’d gone to visit him right after a rain shower. I remember him running out of his house, waving his hands to stop me as I pulled into the driveway. He was afraid I would get my car stuck in the mud (which would obviously not be a good thing). When the mud is thick and we are sunk, we need someone to help us out. Longing, heartache, waiting, desperation can all sink us into that pit. How amazing is it that God runs out, arms waving, and if we are stuck, reaches down and pulls us out! We can know this to be true, friends! He goes down where we are and pulls us out. Let me say that again, He goes down where we are and pulls us out. He is still with you, no matter how deep the pit, no matter how thick that mud and He doesn’t leave us there.
We experience a new relationship with God.
We are then placed out of the pit and mud and onto the rock (v.2). At our home, we’ve actually placed gravel, small rocks to line the path, so that we can drive and walk on it. Even if the rain is coming down and the mud is all around we are safe on our rock. It is our firm place to stand and we can trust it. We’ve laid that foundation. We are above ground, not under, placed on the firm rock and we can move forward in that trust and new relationship with God.
We receive a new song of praise
So now then we are out of the pit, our feet no longer in the mud, placed on the firm foundation and now we have a new song. Our song is no longer, “Why God, why?” or “Woe is me” but “Praise Jesus He took me out of the pit!” That’s the beautiful song we are singing. Not a song of lament but of praise. A new joy gives birth to a new song.
We enjoy testimony that can transform.
Don’t we all love a good makeover story? I loved “What Not to Wear” and am currently jumping on the Chip and Joanna Gaines bandwagon. Obviously, the big reveal is the part we all long to see. To see something changed right in front of our eyes is nothing short of miraculous and God Himself does His own fixer upper on us. Do you think people won’t notice that sort of transformation?! People will wonder how we’ve changed and it will all point to God’s glory. And get this-it will be an encouragement to others! It won’t be wasted; God will use our experience to help someone else. Isn’t that just like God?!
Friends, please take heart. If you’re in the waiting room now, this is what you have to look forward to: new song, a firm foundation, a new, stronger, firmer relationship with your Lord, a testimony of God’s deliverance and faithfulness. It may be difficult to imagine now but there will be a time when you’ll actually be able to say “Thank you” for this waiting room experience. My husband just asked me the other day, if I had come to that point where I was thankful for what God had done during that waiting time in my life. Honestly, I can yes. Would I want to go through it again? Probably not. But I can say that I am different now, that my relationship with God is better, stronger, and I do have a new song to sing. That’s my prayer for all of us.
Thanks for being here!