God's Promises Are Worth Waiting For

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. - Lamentations 3:25

My friend Noelle is one of the coolest, trendiest, and artsiest (that’s a word right?) people you’ll ever meet. Back when the two of us were coworkers and shared an office, she would often bring in pieces of artwork that she had painted the night before or over the weekend and show them to me. One day, she brought in this one particular painting that quickly became favorite thing she had ever painted. 

The piece of artwork was made up of a single sheet of paper. It was covered in pretty oranges, pinks and yellows, mimicking a summer sunset. And overtop of all the colors, she quotes part of Ecclesiastes 3:11, which says, “He makes everything beautiful in its time."

As beautiful as this painting turned out to be, the story behind it is what struck me the most. When Noelle first started to paint this piece, she didn’t like it. It wasn’t turning out how she wanted it to look. It was taking longer to finish than she expected. And in the midst of painting it, her hand started cramping. She became so frustrated that she got up and walked away. At one point, she even contemplated throwing it in the trash and giving up. But after about an hour or so, she came back to the piece, and she finished it. 

When she was telling me this story later on, she talked about how creating this painting gave her such an accurate picture of the process of waiting. Sometimes your life may not look exactly like you thought it would. Maybe certain things take longer than you expected them to. And maybe you have to endure some painful circumstances along the way. But thankfully, there is a God who promises to make everything beautiful in its time. 

He never promises that life will be a breeze. He never promises that patience will be easy to come by. And He never promises that we will get exactly what we ask Him for. But He does promise to work all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

So what about you? Is waiting difficult for you? Is it painful? Time consuming? Frustrating? Trust me. I get it. But I want to encourage you. Next time you get annoyed with waiting, think about Noelle. Think about her painting. And think about Ecclesiastes 3:11. Because while I can’t guarantee that you’ll get everything you’re waiting on, I can promise that His promises are worth waiting for.