Loving To Wait

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord"  Psalm 27:4

As a new believer I was told something about answers to prayer, that I know many of you have heard.  I was told that when you pray you can expect one of three answers, yes, no, or wait.  I'm sure that we are all pretty much the same when it comes to those answers.  We all love the yes answers, we aren't crazy about the no answers, but it's the wait answers that we have the hardest time with.  At least if you get a no, you can move on to something else, but to wait is tough.  There is something we don't like about it, most of us hate to wait.
The Lord gave me a gentle lesson on prayer, through what I would call a living parable, while I was on a run the other day.  I had run up to an intersection where the light was red so I couldn't cross.  The traffic light was equipped with a new pedestrian crossing button to assist blind pedestrians, that verbally communicates.  When the light turns green a mechanical sounding voice tells you to proceed across the street.  When the light is red and you push the button, it says in a pretty stern voice, "wait".  When I ran up to the light, someone had already been there and pushed the button, and he got the "wait".  The person waited all of about five seconds and pushed the button again, and he got another "wait".  Sure enough within another few seconds, he pushed it again, and the machine said what it was supposed to say, "wait".  It would seem after three "waits" that he would have been content to wait, but indeed he was not, and he began to push the button constantly, and the stern mechanical voice rang out, "wait", "wait", "wait", "wait"!  I wanted to scream but kept quiet, I was amazed, frustrated and so very grateful when the light turned green so I could sprint away.  Within a few steps the Lord spoke to me of my own prayers and my own impatience.  He gently reminded me that when He says "wait", He will make me wait.  There is no need to keep pushing the button, I can't speed Him up by pestering Him, or attempting to change His mind, or quicken His pace.  When the Lord says "wait", then we should.
There are two important things to remember about waiting.  First, is to know who we are waiting on.  We are waiting upon the Lord, the One who knows all things, loves us, cares for us, has a plan for us, and desires the best for us.  We are not waiting on an unfeeling machine, or an uncaring bureaucrat, we  are waiting upon our loving God.  Second, the waiting is not just killing time.  There is purpose in all that goes on in our lives, even the waiting.  God may have us wait until circumstances are right, or until our hearts are right.  Waiting helps to purify our motives, and get our focus in line with God's plans.  Our time of waiting may be the most profitable time for building and strengthening our faith.  Remember when you are waiting upon the Lord it is not wasted time.  In fact, when His answer to your prayer is wait, it is the best answer, as the waiting is sure to bring more maturity and depth to your walk.  So, be of good courage and wait upon the Lord.