When the Answer is Wait

Whether you have grown up in the church or never entered one, everyone has at some point been around someone who has been praying. We pray before we eat. We pray before sporting events. We pray before a big test or presentation. We pray when someone’s health is declining and we feel like it’s all we can do. Maybe you pray knowing God is right there with you and that He is holding your hand through it all. Maybe you don’t even really believe God can hear you or that He cares but you have run out of other options.

The point is: the idea of prayer is not some new concept that we are unfamiliar with. And honestly, the act of prayer itself is often the easy part. (Well except those moments when we are doing it out of complete humility because we can’t do it on our own. But that’s a topic for another day.) The hardest part of praying is listening for the answer.

You’ve probably heard the saying God answers prayers in 3 ways: yes, no, or wait. Everyone gets excited about the yes's. That’s like praying about this new job you want and getting hired on the spot. Typically, everyone hopes for the yes. You can almost picture God as like this gentle, sweet Grandfather that just wants to give you the world.

Then there are the no’s. These tend to happen when we send up those 911 prayers before the test we didn’t study for and hope God will just magically give us the answers. I’m not saying that never happens. But usually He says no in those situations to teach us a lesson.

Then there is the most dreaded answer: WAIT. I know for when I pray, I am not only praying for my circumstance but I am also praying that “wait” is not the answer. We are a society built on instant gratification. So the idea of waiting for an answer is actually the worst. It’s as if God doesn’t tell us the answer right away because then we have to keep coming and talking to Him. Sometimes we are not patient enough to wait for the answer so we leave the issue alone and hope the next time we ask God for something, His response time will be more like kraft mac-n-cheese and less like slow roasting a turkey.

I’m caught in the middle of this whole “wait and see” situation at the moment. I have been presented with an amazing opportunity but I don’t know where God is going to let it take me. And guess what? He hasn’t told me yet! He’s told me to wait and see because where I am now could be very different than where I am in a couple years (or something ridiculous like that). And yeah, it is super frustrating! I hate surprises. I like to know what is going to happen to me. But I also know if I spend all my time trying to over-analyze the whole situation, I’ll going to be totally missing out on the ride He wants to take me on. And that’s not something I am willing to miss out on! So I guess I will be waiting… as annoying as it is.