Wisdom In Waiting

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1557. Today's Devo is called Wisdom in Waiting. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Well, happy Tuesday, everybody. Welcome back to My Morning Devotional Podcast. I am your host, Gabby, for the week, and we're jumping into another proverb as we focus during June on the book of Proverbs and the last episode and even this entire week, I am focusing on a couple of values that we can take away from the book of Proverbs. And these are values that teach us how to be wise. It's their wise values. It's not just about being a good person, it's about being a wise person. And so yesterday we talked about listening. And if you didn't listen to that podcast, then maybe before you finish this one, go back to yesterday's listen to it. I am just believing and I know it will bless you. But if you heard yesterday's and it helped and maybe it hit you right between the eyes and challenged you, then this one might do the same today. Because we want to talk about the value waiting. Listening and waiting are very similar. And Proverbs 20:22 says this, Wait for the Lord and he will avenge you. Now, the first takeaway that we can see from this verse is that you don't have to fight your own battles. You don't have to defend yourself. You don't have to speak up if something's been done wrong to you. Why? Because when we wait on God, God will handle it for us. And I've seen that happen in my own life. That's a. I have my own testimonies where God went before me and he fought battles for me that I didn't even know about. When things were being said about me, the Holy Spirit went and defended me. And I'm so grateful for the Lord because I know he is my protector and he can go before me and fight for me. But there's another part of this here that we have to look at, which is the wait for the Lord. Because waiting can feel uncomfortable. Because us as humans, we want movement, we want answers, and most importantly, we want control. This is the hardest thing, because waiting feels like you're Hopeless. You're helpless and you're out of control. But this is what's interesting about God. God often works in seasons, not moments. God works in a season, not in a minute. God doesn't say, I'm going to do everything in this one minute. And in this instance, no. Things have to come together because God is a God of seasons. I love that God put four seasons in place for the world, and those four seasons have a purpose. It's not four days that have purposes. No, it's four seasons. The spring has a season. Summer, fall, winter, all of it keeps the world going around. There is a purpose in seasons. That's where we can rely on, okay, God is a season, season God. And he works within the seasons. And the, the issue that we all have to face is that there are prayers that we might feel go unanswered. If you are in a waiting season, if we're saying God works in season, well, maybe this season that you're in is the waiting. And the waiting is hard because you feel like God isn't answering your prayer. You feel like everything is behind the scenes. Nobody sees you, everybody's moving on without you. And you feel like, okay, God's not doing anything for me. You feel like you're forgotten about. You feel like you're left behind. You feel like you got skipped in line. And you just, you feel like this God that people talk about and the God that you know who is the provider and he does so much for you and he's a way maker and he's a miracle worker. And oh my God, he's so excellent and he gives great gifts. You're like, I believe all those things, but did God just skip me? And I don't question him, but I'm just questioning if he forgot about me. But I want to remind you that waiting is never wasted when God is involved. While we wait, God doesn't just give you the thing that you're waiting for. In the waiting season, God shapes your patience. God will deepen your faith. He will teach you dependence. He will teach you how to release control from your hands to his hands. And the beautiful thing about waiting is it reveals who we trust the most. There have been seasons where I've been in waiting, and it has proven that I'm waiting on the thing, or I'm trusting in the thing more than I trust in God. And the waiting season will do that. I said it on a video that we posted a couple weeks ago. Our social media. They asked us the question, what should you do while you wait. And I thought, you know, if we had to wait, if God has you in a waiting season and the husband hasn't come, the wife hasn't come, the baby hasn't come, the career hasn't come, whatever that waiting is, right, Financially or whatever, then don't just wait around for the thing. Get busy in the waiting. Work on something, cultivate something in the waiting. Because what's beautiful is when that season is up, God ushers you into the thing that you've been praying for. You won't go into it with just achieving one thing. You will achieve multiple things because you developed things in the waiting. And so my dad always says, God won't take steak off your plate without replacing it with steak and lobster. Well, I always think about that. You're not just going to go into the next season with just steak now you're going to get steak and lobster because you were working on something, you were developing something in the waiting. And that something could simply be a dependence on the Lord and trusting in Him. And now you got a husband and a God that you fully trust and rely on. Now you got babies and a God that you know that never fails. Waiting reveals who we trust the most. And so maybe God's not dangling a carrot in front of you. Maybe God's not withholding a husband because you have things to learn. But maybe the season is revealing, wow, I don't trust God enough. And that's the core. That's the thing that we ought to work on. That's the value. You see, as believers, we gotta. We have to trust God so much that when he sends us a waiting season, we praise him for it. We have to trust him so much that we go, oh, thank God. He's giving me the opportunity to get to know him more in the season. He. He's giving me the opportunity to slow down. And like yesterday, we said, listen to him. Waiting reveals, you see, because God sees what we can't see. And we have to remember this. God's timing isn't careless. It's not something he just throws out. It's not something he just wrote down. No, his timing is purposeful. So the question for you today to reflect on is, what is God teaching you in the waiting season? Because I do believe patience. We hear it, patience is a virtue. Maybe the phrase is kindness is a virtue, but we're going to say it about this. Patience is a virtue. And so what do you think God is cultivating in you? What is he showing you or trying to show you in this waiting season. Let's pray. God, we just thank you for today. And Lord, I just pray that you would teach us to wait with faith. You would teach us to wait with trust, God, that you would reveal things to us that you are trying to teach us along the way. Maybe there's things in our life that you're trying to develop. Maybe there's a deepening of our faith, a depth that you're trying to develop in our lives, God. Whatever it is, I pray today that you would reveal it. You would show it to us, God, and that ultimately all of us would lay our lives down and trust you in the waiting. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.