Waiting is hard.
We wait for medical test results. We wait for our dream job offer. Couples wait for a positive pregnancy test. Our children wait for college decisions. We wait on God to answer our prayers and move in different areas of our lives.
I’m currently in a season of waiting. I’m waiting for the Lord to provide direction for my career and to show me if marriage is part of his plan for my life.
God allows us to walk through seasons of waiting to deepen our trust and dependence on him. In seasons of waiting, we often encounter trials and suffering. He uses our trials to refine our faith (1 Peter 1:6-8) and produce steadfastness (James 1:2-3). I was reminded of these truths as I studied the book of Exodus in a Bible study this year.
Testing of Our Faith in the Waiting
Exodus opens with the Israelites experiencing oppression as they are enslaved in Egypt. At the beginning of Chapter 5, Aaron and Moses make a request to Pharaoh, which was a command from the Lord: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness’” (Exodus 5:1).
After Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelites go, Moses and Aaron make a second request: “Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword’” (Exodus 5:3).
Pharaoh rejects their request and increases the Israelites’ burdens by requiring them to make bricks without straw. The work of making bricks is hard enough, but straw was an essential part of that process. The Israelites are then scattered throughout the land and commanded to gather their own straw. This is a waste of time and labor, given that stubs of straw remained in the land. The brick quota proves to be impossible, and the Israelites are punished.
Like the Israelites, we often encounter difficulties, hardships, and trials when pursuing God’s will in our lives. Our obedience often costs us, and suffering is inevitable in our broken world. Our difficult circumstances lead us to question if we have somehow missed God’s will.
While pursuing God’s will for my career, it sometimes felt like I was facing constant obstacles. Job rejections and closed doors in writing led to discouragement and frustration within my heart. As I prayed and processed these emotions with the Lord, he helped me remember his faithfulness and sovereignty. My heart posture in the waiting reveals what I believe about God and his goodness.
I’m waiting and wandering like the Israelites: desiring the Lord’s direction and provision. In this season, I’m clinging to Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Believing God is Working in the Waiting
As the story unfolds in Exodus 5, Pharaoh’s punishments of physical labor and impossible tasks test the faith of the Israelites, and they question God’s promises. The Israelites are adamant that the Lord is on their side and refuse to believe that the worsening conditions were allowed by God. But God’s plan for the Israelites included the testing and stretching of their faith through the wilderness until they would reach the promised land.
As I studied this Scripture passage and reflected on my own season of waiting, the Lord brought these questions to mind: Will I trust God and walk in obedience even when it brings suffering and hardship? Do I believe that the Lord’s plans are good and perfect in his timing and his ways?
God was faithful to the Israelites in their oppression and through their wandering in the wilderness. Like the Israelites, his plan for our lives includes testing and stretching our faith. Through these circumstances, we will know the Lord more intimately in the waiting. We must choose to believe in God’s promises and goodness.
We can trust that God is working in the waiting. We can rest in God’s character in the waiting, knowing he is working all things together for our good and his glory (Romans 8:28).
Kathryn Eckhardt is the communications assistant at Wildwood Church (PCA) in Tallahassee, Florida.