ENCOURAGED in Every Season: Unwavering Faith in a Season of Waiting (Part 6 of 12)

In this ENCOURAGED series, I am passionate about you knowing your Faithful God in every season of your life. As you seek Jesus daily, I desire you to grow in your faith and relationship with Him so you can joyfully embrace Him as your true Encourager and proclaim His faithfulness to others. I pray that you would hold on to the hope and peace found only in Christ and learn how to embrace whatever season you are presently in your life, bringing glory to Him.   

Continuing with the ENCOURAGED acrostic, the fifth practical way to be encouraged is to have:

U~UNWAVERING FAITH IN A SEASON OF WAITING

“Do not fret…Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret…do not fret.” Psalm 37:1,7-8

Learning to wait upon God is difficult. However, what if this season of waiting that we want to wish away is actually God’s divinely-appointed season of preparation getting us ready for what He has purposed and planned for us next? If we knew this, how would it change our perspective on this season of waiting? How can we make this time count?

Remaining hopeful and expectant is hard when feelings of fear, anxiety, impatience, unbelief, doubt, and pride accompany and follow along during these times of waiting on the Lord. How do we reconcile what we are feeling amidst our times of waiting with what we know to be true about God in His Word—His promises and his character?

In God’s Word, we see this same struggle displayed in the lives of God’s children—Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Rachel, Joseph, Moses, Job, David, and Hannah. Each of them had to wait upon the Lord in a long season—whether for a flood to subside, an heir to be born, a blessing to be given, barrenness to end, redemption to rise, deliverance to come, suffering to turn to joy, a kingly position to be acquired, or a son to be born.

As they waited upon the Lord, He prepared them for what was coming next. This waiting time—although not easy—was not wasted, but redeemed as the Lord remembered each one of them. His favor was upon them, and He blessed them with success. “The Lord is faithful to all of His promises and loving toward all He has made” (Psalm 145:13). Amidst their questions and doubts, they did not waver in their faith by allowing their feelings to lead them, but instead they held onto what they knew to be true about God and His promises to them.

Similarly, we face the same wrestling within our own hearts and minds in our seasons of waiting. How do we quiet the anxiety, fear, and doubts that question our faith in this time of waiting? How do we recognize these feelings without being led by them?

We choose to believe God’s promises. As we purposefully and intentionally choose to believe God’s promises, our feelings—rooted in God’s Word—will follow. Following what we know to be true about God and His character keeps us in the will of God; whereas, our ever-changing feelings will always lead us astray, sending us down roads we were never meant to go down. If our feelings do not line up with the truths and convictions in God’s Word, our hearts can be deceived, and we need God’s grace to repent of unbelief—not believing God. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). God is glorified when we believe Him.

Even when there is silence, the Lord is working in our seasons of waiting. When no word or call comes, no answer surfaces, no results are revealed, we can be assured He is at work. In the silence, our faith is tested and tried in the waiting room of our lives.

Oftentimes, when we are in this season of waiting, we do not know what to feel or do. We, like King Jehoshaphat, cry out, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You” (2 Chronicles 20:12). Speculating or presuming upon God’s will for our lives in these moments is costly. We are not called to figure it all out, we are called to trust and believe God, even when we cannot make sense of our circumstances.

Choosing to humble our hearts before the Lord opens and releases an abundance of His sustaining grace, peace, and patience needed during these trying times. This one act of obedience enables the conflicting feelings wrestling within our hearts to subside and quiet.

In Psalm 37, God’s Word encourages with us three consecutive times “do not fret…do not fret…do not fret.” The natural response in times of waiting is to fret, worry, and be anxious. However, as we choose to believe God—not our feelings—and humble our hearts before Him, the stillness and quietness in His presence is made possible by His grace, even as we wait.

In seasons of waiting, we trust Him, put our hope in Jesus alone, humble our hearts, casting all our anxiety on Him, and simply pray and wait. As we do, He will restore us and make us strong, firm, and steadfast. He will give us faith to believe, grace to endure, patience to persevere, and hope in the waiting.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10).

As we wait in expectation on the Lord, may we worship, serve, and thank Him in advance for all He is doing and will do in our season of waiting.

“In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation” (Psalm 5:3).

How does knowing this season of waiting is a purposeful season of preparation encourage your heart? How can you redeem this season of waiting and make this time count?

“Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).