God Wastes Nothing in the Waiting.

Have you ever been waiting for something?

Whether it was the perfect Christmas gift, a relationship you’ve always longed for, or a trip you’ve always wanted to take?

What are you desiring? What does your heart long for?

It feels like, no matter what we hope for and if we get it, our hearts go in and out of longing and waiting our whole lives.

Something specific may come to mind for you, but the reality is – those in Christ are all waiting.

We await a time when there will be no more pain or suffering, and our God will make all the things wrong with this world right.

However, while we wait, God is still mending, healing, and restoring our world.

I think a lot about how God is these three things: omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.

This means that he is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful (in that order). There is nothing He does not know, there is nowhere He is not at, and there is nothing and no one more powerful than Him.

Knowing that truth can be comforting but also challenging at times. God, how did you allow _____ to happen if you know and see everything? Or Why is _____ this way? Or When will _____ happen?

I remember turning 30 years old and still longing for a family of my own, thinking my life would be so different than it actually was.

Months later, I would find myself caring for others’ children with tears welling up in my eyes, wishing I was holding and caring for my own baby. Maybe you have been in a similar place before.

That was 2024, but in 2020, when we were all locked down, my two roommates were away for a while, quarantined with family. Needless to say, I had a lot of time on my hands.

At first, I avoided the inevitable. I tried to busy myself, but push came to shove, and I had to sit with God. It was me and my God. I talked with Him about my true feelings and struggles. I had a hard time dating and figuring out my way in some areas, and He led me to ask myself: ‘What if I never got married?’

My first response? Panic! I had never thought of a future where I didn’t get everything I desired. What do you mean, God?

Little did I know, this was about so much more than that one area in my life. Then began a season of trying to answer that and similar questions.

And through it all, held by God when I cried, consoled, and comforted by His Spirit and His Word, I landed in a place.

This place was where the words of Philippains 4 came true for me:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:11-13

Here, we find some of the most popular yet often widely misapplied scriptures. The writer, Paul, was writing from prison (persecuted for proclaiming Jesus) and speaking about his challenging circumstances to a church that had supported him and his missionary journeys. This book discusses how to live a Christian life practically, emphasizing how a Christian’s thinking and attitude affect how they live out their faith.

These verses aren’t just things to say before a sports event or to write in your Instagram bio. They are the most practical steps to live a life of waiting and trusting in God.

In my time with the Lord, alone in my house during the height of the pandemic, the Holy Spirit led me to understand these words in a way I never had. My answer to the question, ‘What if I never get married?’: I’d be living a life fulfilled by God.

Paul says in every season, whether good or bad, whether he had very little or a lot, he learned the secret to being content, living a life where he felt great fulfillment, even in prison.

That secret? Knowing that God is the one who strengthens Him—and through that strength and that person, all things are possible, and he can do all things only through Him.

In other words, he can endure anything with God. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

In hard times, when things haven’t seemed to go as I thought they would, either because of my own broken choices or the broken choices of others, I relate to the familiar story of Joseph (read more of that in Genesis). A naive young man betrayed by his brothers and many more throughout his life, he clung to his God and found favor during challenges. He thought his life would look completely different than it seemed to turn out.

Nearly 20 years after being sold into slavery by his brothers, he saw them, but they did not recognize him. Yet, there was a famine in the land, and Joseph was now in control of food provisions and, in turn, their lives. It takes much more of the story to get to the precious moment that I feel ultimately connects Joseph’s story to our stories as Christians and to waiting.

Joseph goes on to say, “Look, I know you sent me down here, but don’t worry about that because, actually, God is the one who has been with me down here. And he raised me up to be a ruler so that I can preserve the life of a remnant [the little that remains] in the famine. You didn’t send me here – God did.”

Here is what he said at the end of his father’s life, responding to his brothers fulfilling his father Jacob’s dying wish—that Joseph’s brothers would ask for his forgiveness:

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

I once heard a translation or another way to put this, that has forever stuck with me in times of grief, loss, waiting, and confusion—in other words, “What you intended to harm me, God purposed for my good and the good of others.”

This is so profound, and it proves to me and you, Christians, that God wastes nothing in our lives. He is the master, the creator, the one who purposes and purposes every moment in your life.

So, what if you don’t get the things you long for in this life? The Word tells us that a fulfilled life is still promised to you as a Christian.

And what else do we know? That one day, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

We await what we desire in this life, knowing that we have everything we need in every season in Jesus and that one day, everything will be as it was intended.

At this moment, I am not married, and I do not have any children, even though I long for those things. Even though I don’t know if those things will happen, and that saddens me at times, I know that God sees and knows that, and He grieves even more than I do over the brokenness and sin that makes things not as they should be.

In everything we face, we can come to God and lay it at His feet, knowing He will give us peace and fulfillment in exchange for our fears and desire for control.

While we wait, God wastes nothing.

He gives us the grit and character to live in a broken world. Thanks to His Son Jesus, we can experience some of His redemption and healing in this life.

But we also await a time even better than this—where there is no more suffering, and all is made right.

Practical Next Steps

Read: Philippians 4, Revelation 21:4, Romans 8:28-39, Genesis 37, 39, 41-47, 50 (key points in the story of Joseph)

Journal: Write your thoughts and feelings about past or current moments of waiting in your life. Allow God to speak to your heart’s desires and bring healing.

Watch/Listen:

Reflection Questions

Reflect on these questions as you think about waiting:

• What if you never got some of the things you long for?
  
• Where is God as you wait?
  
• In what ways can you cling to God and a new perspective as you wait?

Let’s Pray Together

Father, I know that you are present as I wait, either for things I desire in this life or for the reality of heaven to meet the brokenness of this world. Help me to find fulfillment and satisfaction in You alone, even as I grieve and wait. Amen.