I was talking to a lovely friend recently, and she told me that God has her “sitting on a shelf.” She went on to explain that this placement is about as uncomfortable as it sounds. She doesn’t like sitting, waiting, not doing. But sometimes, that is just where God wants us. And that is where I have been lately also. Several months ago, I sensed the Lord leading me to commit to forty days of purposeful waiting and quiet before him; and those days have turned into months. It has not been easy, but it has been sanctifying and fulfilling. Like my friend, doing comes much more naturally me than being. But it is often in the quiet that our faith is challenged and complete trust in God is tested.
How do we wait in a way that implies faith? When our prayers for change linger without any reply, how do we keep faith? I have found recently that I may at times pray myself out of faith. The asking becomes a burden and expectation plummets as disappointment clouds my perspective. My prayers become half-hearted cries of desperation that don’t hold any weight. I believe God, in his grace, would accept any prayer from a sincere heart, no matter what level of faith we have. But what does this lack of faith do to our hearts?
I have had people tell me that we should thank God for the answer to our prayer before we receive it. I always thought this a bit presumptuous, or at least naïve. How do we know God is going to answer? How do we know we are not placing our hope in that thing rather than in God? How do we know it is God’s will to answer according to our prayers? But there is biblical backing to believing before receiving. Jesus tells the disciples, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24 ESV). Of course, we need to factor in all other Scripture alongside this outstanding statement. But let’s not throw away the significance of this verse because of a lack of faith or experience.
We can be certain that God delights to give us good gifts (Matthew 7:11). So, we thank God that at this very moment (no matter how many unanswered prayers linger), God is giving us what is good and is not withholding anything from us (Psalm 84:11). We also must remember that our hearts are deceitful and our motivation for certain requests may not be godly. We must search our hearts and confirm that we are asking with godly motives (James 4:3). Then, there comes the discussion of God’s will and how our prayers align accordingly. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14 ESV). And herein lies the contention. Much of God’s will is revealed in the Bible, but the intricacies of how it unfolds is a mystery to us and beyond what the human mind can comprehend. We must keep praying as Jesus taught his disciples, that things on earth would be as they are in heaven—no sin, no sickness, no fear, no death. And as we wait, we must trust God to provide the right things, in the right way, at the right time. And as we do, we take heart knowing that he is working out everything for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28).
We must always have the same perspective that Jesus had in the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, “Father, all things are possible for you…Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36 ESV). We express full confidence in God’s power but also remain in submission to his will.
There are hundreds of generic promises in the Bible for those who believe. But these promises become very personal when we claim them and live according to them. There are also promises that God can give us personally. And while they may be more difficult to discern, we would do well to live in praise and expectation until we see their fulfillment.
Have you considered the many years Abraham waited for God’s promise of a son? As his already old body continued to degrade year after year, he did not let the frailty of his body discourage him. “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21 ESV). Read that again carefully: he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. The giving glory and praise to God in the waiting is what caused his faith to grow! He believed God above what he saw, experienced, or knew. He didn’t know how or when, but he knew Who would do it, and that was enough. Too often we get stuck on the how or when. Faith is taking God at his word when it makes no sense.
God often gives us a promise in a quiet hour, seals his covenant with gracious words of confirmation, and then withdraws and waits to see how we will respond in the waiting. Sometimes he allows tests that contradict all that was spoken and all we are left with is an impossible situation. It is in this moment that faith becomes our victory. And we speak in our affliction as Paul did, “I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told” (Acts 27:25 ESV). When the storm is surrounding us and our very lives are hanging in the balance, we speak in belief, and that is where faith grows.
My conviction is I need to be all in. Not one foot in and one foot out, not lukewarm, not tossed about like the waves in doubt. “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it” (Numbers 23:19 ESV)? We can take God at his word, and pray ourselves into greater faith. Sitting on a shelf or not, we can put our confidence in God’s faithfulness to come through.