I hate waiting! I live in an era where I can quickly get online order my groceries and have them delivered to my door in just a few hours and I love that fact. As a pastor, things move very quickly in the church. Sundays come fast. People’s needs come fast and life comes even faster. However, I had to learn to slow things down by planning months to almost a year ahead. Sitting down and planning out the year was and probably still isn’t one of my strengths. Why? Because I don’t like to wait. I used to be able to work great under pressure, but God’s vision deserves better than my last-minute choices to get something done.
Just like I plan out sermon series and events God has planned out my life and your life. Most of the time we end up having to wait for those plans to come to reality. If you are like me, you end up arguing with God, “I am ready!!”, “Give it to me now!” I have had many conversations with God where I ended up saying these things a few times. I easily forget that during the wait God is preparing me for the plan. When we are waiting, we are being taught something. We are learning the patience he wants us to have. How to hold our tongue instead of speaking; how to show kindness and not anger; how to show love and not hate; How to show patience and not rush; and so much more. We are being taught in the waiting how to hold the calling God has given us. Getting to the plan God has in store for our lives requires waiting.
Looking at the life of King David, we see a man who God planned to be a king. It’s not truly known how old David was when Samuel anointed him to be the next king, but we do know he was the youngest of all of Jesse’s sons. Based on the Hebrew word naar that is used to describe David at the time he was anointed and the time he killed Goliath. Scholars believe David was around 15. Now, naar is translated as “youth”. I am no Biblical scholar, and I won’t pretend to be so I will leave the explanation to those who are biblical scholars. So, David was given his plan by Samuel from God when he was just a boy, but it wouldn’t come to fruition until he was 30 years of age. David would end up having to wait nearly 15 years for God’s plan to be fulfilled. Here is the beauty in David’s waiting. David would tend to his father’s sheep learning how to guide and protect. David in 1 Samuel Chapter 17 verses 34-36 describes a time when he had to go and rescue his sheep from a lion and a bear. David during this moment was learning the depths he would have to go to protect a nation. David would face many other trials in the nearly 15 years he would have to wait. All those trials would teach him important lessons that would prepare him to lead Israel when he would become king.
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance; character; and character, hope.” -Romans 5:3-4
Our trials in the waiting create the person that God called to His purpose. Don’t despise the waiting but learn to thrive in it, knowing that one day you will be in the middle of God’s purpose He designed for you not lacking anything. David learned to thrive in his waiting and when he took the throne that God had planned for him, he was everything God wanted him to be.