When You’re Tired of Waiting on God

When you’re tired of waiting on God, keep waiting.

What do you do when you’re tired of waiting on God? I know you’ve been there before. Perhaps it’s the promotion you’re sure you’ve earned but doesn’t seem to come through. Maybe it’s waiting for a child or grandchild to come back to God. You can’t remember how many times you’ve quoted the Proverb “Raise a child in the way he should go . . .” Maybe it’s waiting for God to bring you a spouse. You’ve done all the right things (mostly). You’ve kept your standards high. You’ve waited. You want to be married more than life itself. And yet, nothing. No one comes along.

What do you do when you know God could answer your prayers in an instant and give you what you think you deserve, and yet he doesn’t? What do you do when you’re tired of waiting on God?

Robin and I experienced the frustrating journey of waiting on God to have children. Even before we were married, we both knew that we wanted kids, lots of them. So after a few years of marriage, we started trying. Nothing. Years went by, nothing. Spent way too much money on fertility specialists, nothing. Got pregnant once, miscarriage. It was brutal. We were convinced that God himself had given us the desire to have kids, and yet he kept the fulfillment of that very promise from us. Everyone around us was having babies. Even teenagers that Robin and I worked with at school and church were having kids. It’s as if the world was mocking us.

Our hope was severely tested, but it never broke. We did all we could do. We kept waiting. A psalm that became my clarion call during this journey was Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” This verse became our beacon, our anchor, the handle we would hold onto when all hope seemed to be slipping away.

We never wavered in our hope that we would one day have children of our own. While we waited, we wanted to be open to adoption as well, something near and dear to both of us. We went through the adoption process, and in 2007 we met a beautiful three month old boy we named Zeke. In 2009, we got to take a gorgeous little boy named Shepherd home from the hospital to live with us. Our lives were full. Reflecting on all that happened to us over the years, Robin and I realized God’s plan. We knew exactly why we didn’t have children of our own the first decade of our marriage: if we had kids of our own, we would have never had the wonderful privilege of parenting Zeke and Shepherd. We love those boys more than life itself. We couldn’t have made better boys if we tried. Those two were the reasons we waited. And we were at peace. We thought we knew God’s plan.

And then, just because God is God and can do whatever he wants, Robin and I recently found out we were pregnant, and a few short months ago gave birth to Linclon Isaac, our first natural born son. And now life is even fuller. God is good. His plan is worth waiting for.

I’m so glad we didn’t give up hope. And as much as we hated waiting, I admit that God knew what he was doing. His way was best. Perhaps it’s the same in your life. If you need an encouragement, it’s this: When you’re tired of waiting on God, keep waiting.

QUESTION: Have you ever had to wait on God for something that you felt he’d promised you?