The Third Attitude of Waiting

The last two weeks I’ve talked about the significance of waiting in our spiritual lives. Click here to read part one. Click here to read part two. Today I’ll continue with the final attitude of waiting.

Waiting Expectantly.

We all inevitably have times of waiting for God to move. Through time and trial, we learn to wait patiently as we come to understand God’s faithfulness, and trusting God seems to be the heart and soul of just about any issue we face in our lives. But how much do we trust God? How far are we willing to trust him?

With each attitude of waiting, our trust muscle gets stretched more and more. We may be able to wait patiently, for the most part, but what about waiting expectantly? What exactly does that mean?

Waiting expectantly crosses a belief barrier. We can wait patiently, unsure of what God has in mind, yet trust that He will move in some way. We continue to pray for God’s intercession but we may not entirely believe God will act.

Waiting expectantly moves one step deeper. We not only trust God to do something, we eagerly await results. We KNOW without a doubt God is working in our circumstances. Our prayers even reflect this. They move from, “God, if you’re willing, would you…” to “God, thank you for what you are and will be doing in this situation.”

So how do we wait expectantly in our unequally yoked marriages? In Mark 9 the father of a demon possessed boy asks Jesus for help. “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

I know we can’t simply make things happen by believing they will. That isn’t what this verse is saying. Jesus is talking about believing in him, not circumstances which can easily mislead and disappoint us. It’s about shedding our doubts about what our God can do and believing he can do anything. Trusting he will do what is in our best interests, and then waiting for it (whatever it may be) to happen.

Ultimately, waiting expectantly confirms our faith in God.

Praying, believing…and waiting expectantly,
Dineen