Reset Part 4 – Unfathomable
Welcome back to our reset series. Today’s link will take you to the song “Unfathomable” and the story of Abraham where we will see how God made an unlikely promise of a child to a couple past their child-bearing years. But, like many of God’s promises, it didn’t happen immediately. After Abraham first received the promise, they waited for 15 years before they received confirmation from their mysterious visitors. Then, they waited another 10 years after that before Sarah gave birth to Isaac!
In the link below, we’ll take a look at how they tried to take matters into their own hands, but in this devotional, I want to look at the topic of waiting. Waiting is not something that comes easily for me. I am much happier when I can move forward and accomplish something! But the Bible often tells us to wait and do things in God’s timing instead of our own.
As I was pondering what to write on this topic, my daughter Nicolena said that she had an idea for a devotional on active waiting. (That’s a God thing!) So this week, I am turning the reins over to her!
Active Waiting
By Nicolena Barnet
Christianity is an active faith. We are called to love and obey God and love our neighbors. But there are many times when we’re not doing big things. There are seasons in life in which we often find ourselves waiting. We might be waiting for the answer to a prayer or for the next opportunity that God will provide. Whatever we’re waiting for, what do we do in the meantime? In these times we’re called to actively wait by training, resting, and preparing. By doing these things, we can be renewed and strengthened. When I was in middle school, I joined my community’s swim team. Our competitions, or swim meets, have a lot to teach about active waiting. Hear me out. A swim meet can last an entire day, yet as a swimmer I would only be racing for maybe a total of 30 minutes. The rest of that time was spent waiting, and what I did in that time would impact the results of my races. In the same way, what we do in our periods of waiting determines our success when life gets hard and God calls us to bigger things. We are called to make the most of the time we are given.
So now I’ve told you to be active when you wait, but how does one accomplish this seeming paradox? First, take time to train. By the time I got to a swim meet, there wasn’t much I was going to learn before my races. However, I still had to train, so each meet began with warmups. The warmups were repetitive and easy. They got the blood flowing and helped us to focus on what we would be doing in our race. Often, our coaches would point out something we were doing that would slow us down later, so that we could fix it before it mattered. When we are in a time of waiting, we can do the same for our faith. Ephesians 6:18 says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Even in the waiting, we should be praying. Our prayers are a direct conversation with our God, and when we pray, we strengthen our relationship with him and strengthen our faith. Another really good way to train is to read the Bible. In 2 Timothy 3:16, it says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” When you spend time in the word, you train yourself to put the Bible into action. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a hard conversation and God gave me the right verse for the moment. But if I never spend any time reading what he says, how will I receive and apply it to that hard situation? Take the down time to train, so that when you’re in the middle of a race and something goes wrong, instead of panicking, you will forge on and complete your task by the grace of God.
Action number two: prepare. Yes, this is different from training, though they are closely entwined. Returning to my swimming illustration, a swimmer begins their race on a diving platform called a block. When the previous race ended, we would climb up onto the block and prepare to dive. At that moment, the entire pool and stands became silent, because the racers were listening for the buzzer to sound to start the race. This moment was so important. If we dove too early, we would be immediately disqualified, and the race would be for nothing. If we reacted too late, our competitors would gain a few seconds of lead, which in swimming is often the difference between a win and a loss. On that block, we had to prepare, wait, and listen. We had to be ready at a moment’s notice. Has God’s call ever caught you off guard? Has your friend, who normally shows no interest in faith, suddenly asked you a question? Have you ever felt a prompting to say something to a stranger in church? Many times, God calls us in a moment to react to his will. An active waiter will be prepared and ready at all times to react to God’s call, so be trained, and then be prepared to put that training into use. It won’t always go right — I belly flopped the first time I dove off a block. But that pain, and a lot of training afterward, helped me to grow. God will use you if you let him, so be ready when he does.
The next part may sound like a contradiction to the previous two, but it’s not. The third part of active waiting is rest. In between the warmups and the race, I remember spending many hours resting as I waited for my turn to race. I would eat, talk with friends, and cheer on teammates during their races. All of those in betweens built relationships and helped us build the energy for the race. Life is a lot more tiring than a swimming race. Life will beat you down and confuse you. Our culture will say that rest is a waste of time, that if you aren’t working, you’re not good enough. Yet, in Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, God gives us a different view. He tells us that there is a time and a place for everything, including work and rest. God will reward those who work hard, but he also has commanded us to rest. Resting allows us to revive our souls and filter out the noise of the world. Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” While rest should be a part of our lives in every season and situation, waiting is his gift to you to take more time for rest.
If I had to sum up active waiting, it would be with these two words: be intentional. How much time do you spend scrolling or watching, and how much of that time could be used to train, prepare, and rest in God? Are you being intentional with the time you have been given between seasons? Understand that if you’re not in a moment of change, it doesn’t mean that you’re in a rut or that God has left you for a time. It is a moment of waiting. He gives you the opportunity to be intentional, so will you take it?
All Scripture in this devotional is taken from
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