Day 3 – Faith In The Waiting

“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT)

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT)

“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.” (Romans 4:20-21, NLT)

One time, I visited a power plant that uses ocean water to generate electricity. During the tour, I was spellbound by the many sounds. I could hear the waves rolling in and seagulls squawking overhead. Inside, machines whirred thunderously as they worked to accomplish their tasks. We went from room to room, until we finally entered one so loud, earplugs were required.

With my earplugs in place, my focus shifted. I could no longer hear the waves or seagulls, and the deafening mechanical sounds were replaced by a muted droning. Instead, my attention was drawn inward, and I was suddenly aware of everything happening in me. My heartbeat rang loudly in my ears, and each step I took resounded like the beat of a drum. Even my thoughts seemed more prominent, more clear. The removal of one of my senses—external hearing—made me acutely aware of what was happening within.

I think God sometimes does something similar through our waiting. Only it’s generally not our sense of hearing He obstructs but our sense of sight. We want to know the what and the when and the who and the how and the where of His plan, but most of the time, He doesn’t give us that information ahead of time. Unable to rely on our own sense of sight, we’re forced to rely on something else instead: God’s unchanging character.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (NIV). By simple logic, this means that when we’re walking by faith, there’s a lot about God’s plan for our lives we won’t be able to see. While we wait for His plan to unfold, He invites us to strengthen our faith.

If a desire is on your heart, there are really only three options for what to do with it: You can pray about it, you can worry about it, or you can try to put it out of your mind altogether. Worrying isn’t really an option, at least not biblically. God tells us not to worry! And putting it out of our minds isn’t a very effective strategy when it’s something we really want. But we can pray about everything—this is not only a biblical option but a command! God tells us to pray with thanksgiving—telling Him what we need while thanking Him for everything He has done. This gives us a lens of gratitude to look through and keeps us from obsessing over our desires as we bring them before Him. When we thank God for all He is already doing, it creates a heart posture of trust by reminding us of His good character even while we wait.