God Often Makes Us Wait

Nehemiah 2:1: “And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.”

The first chapter of Nehemiah begins with “in the month of Chislev,” which is about December. This chapter begins with “in the month of Nisan,” which is the month of April. So there is a time lapse of about 4 months between these 2 chapters. When Nehemiah heard the bad news of the conditions in Jerusalem, he wept, prayed, and fasted. He was in essence saying, “Lord, use me; send me to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.” It is interesting to note that in spite of his prayer nothing happened for 4 months; however, Nehemiah didn’t lose hope.

Nehemiah was a man of vision and patience, and he showed himself willing to simply wait on God. This is a difficult spiritual lesson that every believer must learn, how to wait on God’s timing. In the midst of waiting, it’s easy to feel like the Lord has forgotten us. So it’s a great comfort that the Bible is filled with men and women who had to learn this lesson of patience. Moses tended sheep for 40 years. He had thought earlier that he had some talent in leading people, and had tried, in his own power, to make something happen. He only succeeded in making a mess, killing an Egyptian and having to flee to the wilderness to hide out. Only after 40 years in the desert did he come to the conclusion that he was not capable of leading anything but sheep. It was then that God was finally able to begin to use him. For 40 years Joshua served in obscurity as Moses’ assistant. For 25 years David ran from King Saul, waiting for Saul’s reign to end so he could be king.

We shouldn’t be surprised to find God making us wait before He uses us. Of course the problem is never God, but always us, His children. Sometimes we need to be changed, and sometimes it’s just not God’s timing yet. So when we find ourselves in the midst of waiting, the best thing we can do is simple draw closer to God, trusting Him, allowing Him to work in us, changing the things in us that need to be changed so He can use us.

“LORD, we desire to be used by You today in some small way. Show us someone we can serve, and by serving them, serve You.”