Waiting

We have all experienced times of waiting in our lives; waiting for a relationship, waiting for healing, waiting for a loved one to come to know Christ; waiting for God to answer any number of prayers.  Whatever season of waiting you might be in currently, this poem clearly speaks to the satisfaction of knowing God intimately and finding true fulfillment in Him during the hard and sometimes lonely times of waiting. He is absolutely faithful to hear every cry of our heart, but even more so, faithful to shape us with deep indescribable love, into the image of Christ. Rejoice in the waiting, for “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus!"

I did not write this poem, but it does accurately reflect my hopes and prayers in my time of waiting.

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

The Master gently said, “Child you must 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 am claiming your Word

“My future and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to WAIT?

I am needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,

Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign. 

“And Lord, you promised that if we believe

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

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.

Once again my Master replied, “You must 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 wept 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.

All you seek I could give you, and pleased you would be.

You would 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 the clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust by knowing I’m there;

You’d not know the joy of resting in me

When darkness and silence were all you could see. 

“You’d never experience the fullness of love

As the peace of my Spirit descends like a dove;

You’d 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 asked

Of 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 dreams for your loved ones overnight would come true,

But oh, the loss! If I lost what I’m doing in you!

“So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

THAT THE GREATEST OF GIFTS IS TO GET TO KNOW ME.

And though oft may my answers seem terribly late,

My wisest of answers is still but to WAIT.

-Anonymous