So, in general, we do not like to wait.
And sure, we get antsy when our food takes too long at the restaurant, or when we’re running late and that light just won’t turn green, but what about in situations where we’re a little more desperate? Then, the waiting turns from being antsy to having full-on anxiety, to being hopeless. Then we start wondering if God still hears us. Here’s the answer: He does. Let’s take a look at what we can learn or how we can grow while we’re waiting for God to move.
There are innumerable situations in the Bible where people are desperately waiting for God to move, but today, we’ll focus on Habakkuk as he watched evil prevail in Judah. That being said, we’ll be in the Old Testament, in the book of Habakkuk. I really like this one because it’s sort of a back-and-forth between Habakkuk and God—which we find ourselves in all the time.
First is that in our waiting is an opportunity to draw closer to God and seek to know more about His character. This book is the question book, as in, Habakkuk asked God question after question about what was going to happen in Judah. And not once did God ever leave him unanswered. In fact, God used his questioning to give Habakkuk hope for the future in this dark time in Judah. In Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV), God says, “‘Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.'” God loves talking to us, even if we’re asking Him questions in desperation, asking for Him to move. Because that’s when we give Him a chance to show us more of His character. He is peace in the struggle, and hope in the hailstorm.
In waiting, we can also learn about God’s plan. In the very next verse, God tells Habakkuk, “”I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own'” (1:6). So, God not only told him that something huge was about to happen, He told him how it was going to happen. Habakkuk couldn’t have had a single doubt that God was hearing him.
Yet still, Habakkuk asks God again why He would allow such evil to prevail in this world.
God has the same answer, again, and uses Habakkuk’s question as an opportunity to remind him to wait for Him to intervene—in fact, God’s timing is perfect timing. The Bible tells us that “Then the Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay'” (Habakkuk 2:2-3 NIV). My favorite bit of that is how the Lord says “you had better write this down!” He’s reminding Habakkuk that He is coming, but he just has to wait. Just like He reminds us that He is coming, but we just have to wait for Him.
Our waiting also encourages faith in prayer. Habakkuk 3 does not show us a prophet with questions and complaints—it shows us one in hope and praise. By the end of the book, we see the him singing, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV). This is Habakkuk finally accepting the peace of God and saying, “yes, this situation looks bleak, and yes, I am weary, but I will wait for God to move, because I know He’s heard me, and I know He’s moving.” Habakkuk is a great example of how we should be in situations like his. We truly may not know how God is going to move, but we know that He always is.
We are in our own version of Judah, and I know that we can all relate to Habakkuk in the grueling wait for deliverance. But let’s not allow our waiting to grow into a resentful impatience. Let’s use the desperation that comes with it to learn more about who God is, and let Him show us. Then, we’ll find ourselves seeing that though we feel as if nothing is happening, something is happening, and, my friends, it will be more than we could’ve ever even imagined.
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