Waiting Room Exit

This is a continuation of the Waiting Room blog. For this one to make sense, you have to read that other one first.

So here I sit in God's waiting room enjoying His love and peace. Then someone else in the waiting room wants to talk about the waiting. They say they are waiting on God, too, but after more conversation I find they aren't totally committed to waiting on God. Making their own plans and decisions still sounds somewhat enticing to them.

In a physical waiting room, there are usually two doors- the door you came in and the door that goes where you are waiting to be. When you enter a waiting room, the door you come through will sometimes say "exit" above it. You can always go back out the door you came in. You can always escape the waiting room. It's the same in God's waiting room. He doesn't lock the door behind you. He's allows us to have free will. He lets us decide what we want to do with our lives. He gives us His Word, written and spoken to our hearts, as a guide, but it's up to us to decide what to do with it.

You can always escape the waiting room.

There I found myself in God's waiting room talking to someone who seems exhausted from waiting. Weary. Then the thought comes up, "what if we exit the waiting room the way we came in?" You know, go back out and look for another way to change things. Maybe use our human minds to do some more thinking and our own strength to do some more building? Sounds like a tempting idea. Maybe I missed something, and I'll see things differently out there in the world of running-my-own-life? My mind starts wandering. The waiting is so difficult some days. I momentarily forgot the truth. The truth that when I was in control, life was chaos. When I was in control, I was often gasping for air and searching for hope. On the other side of that exit door, I was a different person. I was a troubled, hurt person. The truth is that I had started to take for granted the hope, love, and calmness I found in the waiting room. The waiting room had actually become a welcome respite once I realized the treasures inside. God restored my hope in the waiting room. God offers peace in the waiting room. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him (Lamentations 3:25). Yet, there I sat in the waiting room, allowing my mind to wander about giving up and going back out that door. There was no peace when I was trying to figure things out on my own. There was no peace when I was desperate for deliverance from turmoil. There was no peace when I was making my own decisions.

God offers peace in the waiting room. 

Why would I give that up now? It's a little scary to think that there is always the option of going back out the door you came into the waiting room. It's not locked. You don't have to wait on God. If you get frustrated with your wait and wonder how much longer, refocus your mind on what you were delivered from (Philippians 4:8). Refocus your thoughts on the peace you have found in God. Don't let the enemy try to convince you that there is anything enticing on the other side of that exit door. Everything you left behind when you decided to wait on God is what is out there. Everything ungodly and everything disastrous. Pain, heartache, loneliness, fear, and desperation- that's what's on the other side of that waiting room exit door. There is no peace in the world of running-your-own-life. Fill your mind with thanks for all that you are sheltered from in God's waiting room. You don't have to understand what God is doing, just believe that He keeps His promises. He is still working. When He calls you out of the waiting room, all things will be perfect and complete. He makes all things new. It will be worth the wait, the commitment of staying focused on His promises.

You don't have to understand what God is doing, just believe that He keeps His promises.

The coolest thing about waiting on God is that He waits with us. When I felt a little confused and my mind wandered to considering the exit door, I talked to Him about it. I asked Him to help me stay put. I reminded Him that my heart wants Him and His will more than anything. He wrapped His arms around me and poured more love in my heart. He is here. In the waiting. He's never going to call us out of that mess we were in and then forget us.

He is here. In the waiting. 

So, stay in God's waiting room! Don't let anything or anyone convince you that the door you came in is the door you want to go out of! Wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14) Let God finish what He is doing and bring His promises to pass in your life. God has not forgotten us. He knows right where we are because He put us there!

And for the person who wanted to talk about using that exit door, thankfully they were convinced that it wasn't a good idea. And they decided to keep waiting on God, too. (: Encourage others in the waiting room. Don't let them give up on God, either!

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.