Seasons of Waiting

(Written May 21,2025)

Nobody likes to wait. Waiting usually feels like a waste of time. Our lives are so short anyway, why then does God make us wait? Perhaps it’s because “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and we are wishing to be in a different season. Maybe you’re single waiting for true love, maybe you’re saving up for a house, maybe you’re looking for a new job, maybe you are waiting for an answer to prayer. We need to be careful that we do not waste our lives wishing we to be in different seasons, when the one we are in one holds many blessings and opportunities God would have us to take advantage of.

About mid-January the gardener inside me starts longing for spring so I look through seed catalogues, watch gardening tips on YouTube and dream of warmer weather. Meanwhile there’s time by the fireside to enjoy, more time for reading, baking and other indoor hobbies, occasionally there is snow to play in. When it is spring, it flies by so quickly I keep wishing I had already put this or that in the garden (especially this year, trying not to make excuses, but having a newborn and a two-year-old doesn’t make it any easier). Spring might also be my favorite time of year with all the flowers and mild weather to enjoy. During summer I grow tired of the ticks, bugs in general, and eventually the heat, so I look forward to cooler nights and sweater weather with no bugs. Yet summer is a great time to enjoy the outdoors, go to the river and wade or swim. Finally in the fall I mourn my garden plants giving up for the year one by one. However, the unmatched autumn colors, harvest time and mildly cooler weather easing us towards sweaters and comfort food make this season my other favorite (probably tied with spring). Just like the four annual seasons, each season of our life has it’s own purpose, beauty and things to enjoy, we can miss so much by not embracing the season we are in.

The children of Israel had difficulty with embracing their seasons. When they were free and waiting on Moses to come down from Mount Sinai, instead of enjoying some free time with their families after being slaves their whole lives, they were so uncomfortable with waiting that they longed for the familiarity of Egypt and started worshipping an Egyptian god. Anytime they had to wait on God at all, to fulfill any of their needs, they showed lack of faith and complained. They panicked as if everything was coming to ruin. When they reached the promised land they freaked out over the slightest obstacle, “They’re taller than we are! We’re all gonna die! Let’s go back to Egypt!” (my paraphrase from Numbers 13:32-33 and Numbers 14:1-4). I mean come on, these are the same people who crossed the Red Sea on dry land! Then Moses told them they would have to wait in the wilderness another 40 years because of their attitude. They never learned to wait well, so they spent the rest of their lives waiting.

We wonder at how the Israelites could have so little faith and be so ungrateful. We think we would have more faith, be more grateful, but how are we handling our own delays, our own waiting times on our way to the heavenly promised land? Are we complaining to God and others and focusing on what we lack? Or are we having faith in our waiting times, making the most of the season we are in and rejoicing in all the Lord has already done for us. Paul talks about how we need to learn the lessons the children of Israel failed to learn in the wilderness as we await the heavenly Promised Land, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’. Nether let us commit fornication as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Something the Israelites kept repeating when complaining on their way from Egypt to the promised land was “have you brought us out in the wilderness to die?” when they reached the promised land they even wished to God that they had! (Exodus 14:11-12, Exodus 16:3, & Numbers 14:2) God heard them and let them have what they believed would happen, they all died in the wilderness (Numbers 14:.26-29). We need to be careful what we choose to forecast because Jesus often said “according to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29, Matthew 9:22, Matthew 15:28, Mark 10:52, Mark 9:23, & Luke 8:50). If we choose to believe that we will never get our answers, that we’ll always be alone, or that the best of our life is past, it might be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Who also suffered because of the Israelites inability to wait with faith? Their children did, “And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms…” (Numbers 14:33). We not only need to choose to have an attitude of faith for ourselves, but for those around us, especially our loved ones, because they are affected more than we realize. On the other hand, are you suffering because of someone else’s lack of faith and poor choices? If so it might be helpful to remember this verse, “But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye despised.” (Numbers 14: 31) Has someone told you that your worthless, that you’ll never be a success? Has someone else’s actions put your life on hold? Continue to be faithful in your own waiting and God will fulfil His promises in you! God loves to prove the hardhearted and unbelieving wrong.

How can we take full advantage of our current season? By being thankful, and thoughtfully enjoying the blessings in our now. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:28 So what season are you in? Do you know? If so, do you understand it’s purpose? If you understand the purpose of your current season it can help you to take full advantage of it. For example, my current seasons are: Spring – a time for planting, I have a newborn – for her a time to grow, for me a time for feeding and snuggling and taking pictures, I have a two-year-old – a time of discovery for her, for me it’s a time of answering constant questions, a prime time for teaching new things, enjoying the wonder of God’s creations, and taking pictures (If you have kids it’s always time to take pictures).

Even if you don’t understand your current season you can make the most of it by doing faithfully whatever task is before you. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might….” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is he way of the spirit; nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” (Ecclesiastes 11:6)

Trusting our seasons and desires that are beyond our control to the one who “satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:16) we can learn to wait well, and “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him…” (Psalm 145:18) “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” (Psalm37:4-5) “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)”He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

“And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.”

Isaiah 30:18

P.S. For further reading some psalms that are helpful in seasons of waiting: Psalms chapters 25, 27, 37, 39, 62, 130, and 145.

All scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV), unless otherwise noted.