Waiting.

I never was very good at it, and I’m ashamed to admit, I’m getting worse!

Not that I’m getting more impatient. I’m simply forgetting what it is I’m waiting for and so I get up and leave!

I took my wife out to dinner for Mother’s Day. I almost left before the waitress came to take our drink orders. Fortunately she was pretty quick bringing out our drinks, and I downed mine in a matter of 30 seconds. Then I started in on the chunks of mango and the ice cubes… The waitress felt sorry for me and brought me another drink. I was still working on its mango chunks when our dinner came. I then ate my dinner in record speed and got up to leave. My wife reminded me that she wasn’t finished eating and invited me to wait. That made sense to me so I waited. For a few minutes, until I forgot what I was waiting for. Fortunately my wife had finished eating by then, and recognizing that I wasn’t going to stay put much longer, she called for the bill. Even that was quick enough to come, but while my wife was trying to pay, I got up and wandered away.

A similar scenario happened in the grocery store last week. she was moving so slowly up and down the isles, so I took off. I figured she would find me in the end, and she did. Then it was time to check out. We were at one of those budget grocery stores, the kind where you have to bag your own groceries. I simply forgot why she wasn’t coming to the car, and I took off to find the car without her. She kept coming to bring me back, but I was on to her. I’d just leave again! At one point, she said through gritted teeth, “I’m never going to get these groceries bagged!”

Then there’s the whole “waiting for the promise of my healing” bit. It’s been six years since I received that promise, yet my cognition slips farther and farther on a daily basis… God is all-powerful! Why doesn’t He just say the word and my cognition will return? I am pretty sure my wife is getting tired of the wait … I know for sure that I am!

The first two chapters of 1 Samuel tell the story of the miraculous birth of the prophet Samuel. His mother, Hannah, is unable to bear children. In that day and age, not being able to have a baby was an ever bigger deal than it is today, and it didn’t help that although she was the favored wife, she wasn’t the only one. And the other one had produced children! As the story goes, Hannah goes to Shiloh with her husband for the yearly sacrifices. While there Eli finds her pouring out her heart to God, asking Him to give her a child. She even goes so far as to dedicate this unborn, and perhaps never-to-be-born, child to God!

Eli doesn’t know this, for she is praying silently, and he thinks she is drunk. Once he finds out that she is simply pouring out her heart to God, he assures her that she will receive the answer to her prayer. Hannah is overjoyed, and sure enough, a year later she held a baby boy, her own first-born child.

Hannah kept her word. She kept Samuel with her until he was weaned, but then she turned him over to the high priest, Eli, thus fulfilling her vow to God to dedicate her unborn child to His work. (See 1 Samuel 1,2)

Why did God make Hannah wait to have a child?

Well first of all, this is speculation on my part; but consider this thought: Samuel was a unique child made up of a unique combination of his mother’s and his father’s genes. If he had been formed from a different egg/sperm combination, he wouldn’t have been the same person. If Hannah had become pregnant before the birth of Samuel, it wouldn’t have been the same egg or the same sperm. It would have been a totally different child.

God needed Samuel, with his unique genetic make-up! We know that Samuel prophesied a message of doom over Eli’s family (See 1 Samuel 2:27-4:22). He then went on to lead Israel for many years. He led them to victory (See 1 Samuel 7:3-5). He anointed Israel’s first king, Saul (See 1 Samuel 9), he found and anointed David as a lad (See 1 Samuel 16). And that’s just a few of the things Samuel did for the Lord. If Samuel hadn’t been Samuel, who would have done all of these things for the Lord?

Thinking about it a little further, Samuel’s specific genetic make-up could have well been achieved as a second child. So why did Hannah have to wait to have children?

Well, would Hannah have dedicated Samuel to the Lord if he had been a 3rd or a 4th child? Would she have dedicated any of her children if she hadn’t been barren? Would she have made a vow to give Samuel to the Lord’s work if she hadn’t been bargaining with God to answer her prayers?

The bottom line is this: Hannah had to wait for God’s perfect timing. Only in God’s perfect time could Samuel be born and be dedicated to the Lord’s service.

It’s hard to wait when you don’t see the big picture. Nonetheless, I know that God will heal my cognition in His time, at the exact moment when all the pieces fall into line, at the exact time when I should be healed. I don’t know how long that will be, but I do know that in God’s time, it will be the right time!

What are you waiting for? What promise hasn’t yet been fulfilled? What have you been begging God about? Remember: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Eccl. 3:11 NIV). That means that your miracle is coming, and it will be at just the right time!

So what do we do in the meantime?

Why not spend more time contemplating God’s blessings of the past? It’s a great faith-booster!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries