Although waiting on God may make us uncomfortable, waiting is a way of hearing God’s silence.
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The Silence of God Series – Article 3 of 4
Do you ever try to tell God how He should work in your life? Have you asked the Lord to remove a difficult situation that you are presently facing? In this third part of a four-article series, Nancy McGuirk urges Christians to trust God in all of life’s circumstances and trials. She explains first, that He uses our discomfort to form His character within us. She then encourages us to wait patiently before God, as He builds our faith through adversity, and progressively purges us of our selfish desires.
Let us suppose that God responded to us every time we wanted Him to, in just the way that we wanted Him to. Isn’t it possible that we would try to use God in the same way that we use an ATM machine? Wouldn’t we want only the things that He can give us rather than wanting Him? God desires that we love Him, for who He is, not for what He can do for us.
Jesus made a profound promise to us in God’s Word: “Ask anything, according to My will, and you will receive it.”
That is powerful! Yet, there is a catch. It is true that we can ask Him for anything. However, that anything must be “according to His will.”
In other words, we must want what God wants. Often when God answers, He may not give us what we want, but He will give us what we need. The process is somewhat like giving a child medicine. The medicine is necessary, but it is not always easy to swallow. God is constantly teaching us that waiting on Him, is a faith building experience.
We must remember, “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.”
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Yet waiting is uncomfortable for us. That is why we need to understand the principle that God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. In fact, He often uses our discomfort to build our character.
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As we depend more upon Jesus, God begins to purge us of what “self” wants, and we learn to focus on what God wants. We begin to align our will with His will, to accept His responses and to believe in His promises. We begin to grasp what Jesus meant when, despite His agony in the garden He declared, “Nevertheless not My will, but Thy will be done.”
Nancy McGuirk - Bible commentator, small group facilitator, and intercessor - is the founder and director of the Women's Community Bible Study International. Nancy ministers to thousands of people each week in person and through a video and audio tape ministry. The focus of her work is evangelism, discipleship and intercessory prayer. For more articles by Nancy McGuirk, go to her website at Women’s Community Bible Study a Christianity.com ministry partner. .