"In My Waiting, He is Good"

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"In my waiting, He is Good." 

Scripture to follow:

1 Samuel 1:7
Lamentations 3:25
Isaiah 40:31
Romans 8:28 

There is a critical component to story of Hannah, and without it’s role, the whole narrative changes. That component is time. In the tapestry of time, God delicately weaves our stories, and sometimes, it's in the waiting that our deepest surrender is found. As we revisit this month’s scripture, we see in  1 Samuel 1:7 that year by year when Hannah went to the house of the Lord during the annual time of worship and sacrifice with her husband, she wept and did not eat. Years Hannah waited to receive her blessing. When time passes over our prayers it can be difficult to endure. We become discouraged, confused, and anxiety ridden. It often seems cruel that a God who can do all things would not answer our prayers immediately, especially when we feel our desires are good and pure of heart. Certainly, the passing of time Hannah endured without an answer to her prayers could easily be looked at as unnecessary suffering.

 But what happens when we remember to allow God’s character to inform our perspective? Perhaps we may then see Hannah’s barrenness, not as a cruel oversight, but a deliberate pause creating space for her heart to move from mere longing to sacred surrender. It was in her time of waiting that her vow was made. Samuel was promised to the hands of God. He would be raised, not at home under Hannah’s nurture, but in the temple, where he would go on to play a crucial role in Israel’s history. Consider if Hannah’s womb had echoed with immediate life. If she had never felt the weight of her void and turned to God to fill it, would she have fully embraced her need for God and entrusted Samuel to Him with such surrender? Would I?  

We know what is placed in the hands of God will be taken to heights beyond our imagination, but if we do not fully acknowledge Him as the sovereign source from whom all blessings flow, would we ever place our needs completely in His hands? Like Hannah, the time between our desires being sparked and being brought to life is the space where we determine who ultimately holds the power in our story. If I alone am capable of fulfilling my needs from my own being and in my own time, then I am all powerful. I have no need for one greater. Yet, when God, in His time, unveils our blessings, using our surrender to shape our hearts along the way, He assumes His rightful place as the sovereign creator.  He is free to do with it what He will.  And we all know God can do much more with His power than we can with our own. Just as He did with Hannah, God is working in our stories through the passing of time. The pain we feel in the waiting is not wasted, but transformed into a means through which God shapes His purpose alongside our desires. 

When we find ourselves becoming discouraged, restless, and even resentful, let’s remember, to let God’s character inform our stories. Before we create a narrative that says we are forgotten, forsaken, or that or if we were more holy we would receiving, not waiting, let’s recall these promises that reveal the character of God: God says He is good to those who wait on Him. (Lamentations 3:25) He says He will renew the strength of those who wait for Him (Isaiah 40:31) He says in all things He is working for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)  
Beloved, no matter where you are in your waiting, rest assured, in the time God is taking to answer your prayer, there is purpose. 

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