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Do you ever grow tired, and perhaps more than a little frustrated at waiting for an answer to a prayer?  Maybe you’ve been rattling the gates of heaven for what seems an eternity about an acute need, such as a job, or a home, or the salvation of a loved one.  Now you’ve come to a place of just about giving up…except that you can’t just give up.  People depend on you, your energy is running on fumes, and disaster is dangling over your head by a thin, frayed thread.  You have to keep on, you have to get up in the morning and do it all over again, and you find yourself once more crying out -begging- for relief, for an answer.   But there doesn’t seem to be one; just more waiting, so you question your faith and your relationship with God.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like I have been hearing a lot recently about “waiting” on the Lord, “resting” in the Lord, and “releasing” to the Lord. These are by no means new concepts, but it seems like every passage of scripture I have read lately has had the word ‘WAIT’ or ‘REST’ in it. They stick out like the proverbial sore thumb, and what do they have to do with faith?   How does the seemingly interminable wait for an answer to prayer impact faith, and vice versa?

Simplistic as it may sound, waiting on the Lord cannot be accomplished without faith. Resting in Him is impossible without faith in Him. Releasing to Him is an exercise in futility unless you are exercising your faith to do it. Sometimes it’s really tough to take your hands off something and let God work. You want to do something so badly….after all, Scripture tells us “faith without works is dead.”  We feel that it is truly an act of faith to be “doing” something. Heaven forbid we should sit with our hands in our laps, (or our mouths shut!)  We see so much that needs “fixing.” I am so guilty of self-righteous platitudes and “spiritual advice” that it seems like second nature to go around dispensing quick fixes and high-minded admonition.  I caught myself the other day, praying for a situation and actually petitioning God for things to go the way I thought would help fix the situation. I was stopped mid-sentence by the Holy Spirit, fortunately, and reminded that if I am to really TRUST God, I will simply pray that His will be done, and get my attention off of what I would like the outcome to be. I began to realize that all my “traffic directing” has left me frustrated, exhausted and disappointed. I am appalled by my lack of trust! If my Heavenly Father is going to provide for my every need, and answer my every prayer, He certainly is not going to do a slip-shod job of it. His means and imagination far exceed mine.

So what do I do the next time I catch myself trying to orchestrate the answer to a problem? I must refuse to dwell the problem or its outcome. I do this several ways:

1) recounting problems that God has already solved and letting myself be awed by the unique way He did it (Psalm 103);

2) reminding myself that He is my Father, and my Father only wants what is best for me, just as I only want what is best for my children (Luke 11:9-13);

3) don’t allow my mind to wander around looking for useless remedies (Phil. 4:6-8);

4) pray in the Spirit to build myself up in faith (Jude 20,21).

When I have done all this, I find the weariness and discouragement have drained away and Isaiah’s words become truth for me: “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (40:31).

And my faith grows stronger.

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