GOD’S WAITING ROOM: A TRAINING GROUND.

TEXT: GENESIS 16:1-16.

Waiting at any time and for anything has never been easy, knowing that you are supposed to have or be enjoying a particular thing at an expected time and it is not forth coming can be frustrating. If the period of waiting is not properly understood or managed it can lead to depression and it can also make one begin to consider alternative routes, shortcuts, and some other unhealthy, fast but foolish options with tempting appeals. In addition it can even bring suicidal thoughts where family and friends become part of the bigger problem instead of helping to solve it. Waiting is not limited to the fruit of the womb but it cuts across every facet of life; academics, relationship, career, raising of children, waiting to see a prodigal son/daughter come home (having a wayward child in particular can be a very daunting experience) or waiting for a prophecy to come pass.

For everyone God uses and is going to use, there is always a period of training which vary in length according to the weight of the assignment; from Father Abraham, Mother Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Racheal, the children of Israel who stayed extra years in Egypt for the iniquity of the Amorites to be full (Gen. 15:13, 16). In addition, Moses was in the back side of the wilderness, Mother Hannah waited for the child Samuel, David tended the sheep in the wilderness while waiting for the divine manifestations and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had a long period of waiting, He told His ‘agitated’ mother in the wedding at Cana, “mine hour is not yet come” (John 2:4). He knew the journey of thirty years could be ruin with just a little more seconds before the appointed hour on the day of Divine approval.

Jesus, by example taught those that will afterward believe in Him the importance of last minute waiting and not go the foolish path of king Saul that cost him the kingdom and his place in God. The twelve disciples also waited in the upper room (Acts 1:13, 14; Luke 24:49) while apostle Paul spent about three years in Arabia gathering spiritual strengths and experiences (Gal. 1:17, 18). The period of training/waiting has never been easy and many people for lack of patience have sought an easy way, a foolish alternative to their own peril.

There will always be an alternative ‘plan B’, a self-propel selfish end to a nagging challenge that can further derail or sometimes make for outright replacement of the purpose of God with something similar but lesser behind which are hidden thorns of spiritual and fatal consequences. However, Gods in His mercy like the dear father of the prodigal son, waits patiently to receive and to help as many who will retrace their steps back to Him and to His plan for them. It is never too late to come home to God and nobody has gone too far beyond the redeeming grace of God.

DANGER OF ALTERING GODS TIMETABLE

When we choose to go our own way as against Gods will there is always a price to pay.

It disrupts Gods original plan and brings in His permissive will:

When God promises us a thing He stands by His word and ensures He brings it to pass in our lives according to His timing. However, when we cannot wait for Him and insist on our own way, He will allow it though it is contrary to His perfect will for us. In our text God (Gen 16:1-16), God allowed the birth of Ishmael which was obviously not His will as He promised Abraham in the preceding chapter of Genesis 15.

It elongates the period of waiting:

When we fail to wait for Gods time, we unknowingly delay ourselves. God will not walk with us in a way different from His plan. He will wait for us until we come to our senses and come back to Him, then He will continue with us in that which He has originally planned. When God was taking the children of Israel through the wilderness to the promise Land, anytime they sin their journey was always halted until they repented or cast out the accursed thing from their midst before the journey can continue again.

It disrupts a once peaceful system/home.

Once we leave the will of God and seek for an alternative we equally leave His presence and that will cost us our peace and joy. In the story of Sarah and Hagar, a once peaceful home became a house of trouble for Abraham and his wife, Sarah (Gen.16:5). Similarly, in the family of Isaac where Jacob and his mother (Rebecah) fooled Isaac to steal Esaus blessing because the mother was privy to the prophecy that the elder will serve the younger. Rebecah in her own wisdom thought she was helping God to fulfil prophecy by playing a fast one on Isaac but instead they disrupted a once peaceful home and made Jacob a runaway fugitive. It even elongated the period of waiting for Jacob (Gen.27:41).

It can lead to death or replacement.

Many have sought for help outside God’s will because they felt God’s time is taking too long and that has led to their eventual destruction. King Saul in I Samuel 13:8-14, was asked by Prophet Samuel to wait for him for seven days, but on the seventh day, he felt the Prophet was taking too long and being pressed by situations and seemingly unfavourable circumstances that surrounded him, he offered the burnt offering himself contrary to the law. His impatience and inability to wait on God up to the last minute cost him the throne, and eventually led to the untimely death of King Saul and his sons with him. It is not enough to wait, like Saul till the very day appointed by the priest, but it is more important to wait till the very last second of the appointed hour on the appointed date with God.

It always worth the effort when we wait on God. It might look as if time is going but God is always on time and He makes all things beautiful in His time. Wait and keep waiting on Him, surely there is a set time and He will reward your days of waiting, that it might be said of you “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them” (Psalms 126:1-2).

Wait, I say wait on Him because “The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him” (Lamentations 3:25). The night is far gone, the morning of joy is nigh. Harvests are coming!

Mrs Comfort O. Olumofin writes for Praying Parents Prayer Group Christian Ministry (3pG).

This article was first published in the CHURCH OF NIGERIA (IBADAN DIOCESE) WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS annual magazine CHRISTIAN HOME 2019 edition titled GOD’S WAITING ROOM: GOD’S TRAINING ROOM.