Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:28 — 19.9MB)
Holding on, hanging in there, being patient, sitting in the waiting room—none of those come easy for me. And being put on hold on the telephone is particularly annoying—don’t you agree? So, more than anything else I’m talking to me, and you can listen in, as I remind myself again that I have to hold on when I’m on hold.
When you think of someone in the Bible who was on hold, you most likely think of Job. Talk about holding on when he was on hold, nobody has ever endured more than Job did while waiting for God to move. In Job 6 he says:
Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for. What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? (Job 6: 8, 11-12).
And in Job 7:6-7, he goes on to say:
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.
His words may express your heart today. Like Job, you may be saying or thinking: Why hasn’t God granted my request? I don’t have the strength to keep holding on. After all, I’m just flesh! I’ve lost hope and I’ll never be happy again.
For most of us, this feeling of hopelessness doesn’t show itself outwardly so much as it corrupts us on the inside. It takes the form of what Thoreau called “quiet desperation.” You keep going, you keep saying the right things and maintaining a semblance of normalcy, but on the inside you’ve truly given up. You’re going through the motions of a marriage or a job; you’re making people think everything’s okay with your children or parents, but in reality, you’re emotionally detached; there’s no more fight left in you, and you’re almost at the place where you really don’t care.
Today I want to share three simple truths that will help you hold on when you’re on hold. And the first one is: Trust in God’s Sovereignty. That simply means that you continue to believe that nothing happens in God’s universe that is outside of God’s influence and authority. And you believe the same is true in your life. God is sovereign in your life. Therefore, you can trust that in his sovereignty, he will make all things work together for your good, even the evil and wrongs of others and the cruelty of this sin-infested world.
Believe me, I know it’s not easy to trust when you’re on hold, especially when it looks like your world is crumbling around you. I think of a friend who went through years of pain and suffering from an unfaithful husband and a broken marriage, death of two children, another child who walked away from God, and other significant losses. Honestly, she was a Job-story for today, and I often wondered how she made it through. Obviously, all those things left deep scars and hurt, but she turned it into opportunity for her to minister to others. She completed a biblical counseling degree and now she has a voice to help others who are “on hold” because she has walked deep, dark roads. In God’s sovereignty and as only God can do, he turned her sorrow into dancing and has given her a broader, more effective ministry as a result.
So, if you can put your trust in God’s sovereignty today, regardless of your feelings, and simply repeat that you believe he is still in control, that is step one in holding on while you’re on hold.
Step two is to Trust in God’s Timing. Listen to these verses from Psalm 37:5-7:
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
God’s timing often seems so inappropriate to us. What possible good can come from waiting any longer—that’s how we see it. I can look back on my life and see how the waiting periods of my life were there for a purpose—a purpose I did not see or like at the time. But with hindsight, I can now understand that God had a purpose for the delays that seemed so unnecessary to me.
For about four years my church was in the process of opening a residential home for women who have been sexually trafficked or exploited. It was quite a journey, and now we have a beautiful home in just the right place to do what God has called us to do. But along the way there were two other homes that I thought God wanted us to have and tried everything possible to make it happen. But the doors closed, and I remember wondering if we would ever find the right house in the right place. It looked like mission impossible. And then, through one quick reference from one person, I saw a house that seemed right, and in incredible speed, we owned that house within a week. When God’s time was right, things moved very quickly, but I couldn’t see that when we were on hold.
Maybe that’s where you are today. You are waiting on God to move and he seems to be quite late. Proverbs 19:2 reminds us that “Desire without knowledge is not good—how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” In other words, impatience will get you in trouble. Running ahead of God is not the way to go. So, can you today trust in God’s timing, take your hands off, and wait patiently for him? It’s one of the most important lessons you need to learn if you’re holding on when you’re on hold.
And then, step three is critical and that is to Trust in God’s Love. Often when we’re on hold we begin to wonder if God really cares. We sang, “Jesus loves me, this I know” as a child maybe, but can we really sing it again? Are you at the place where you have begun to doubt that God loves you? You can’t understand why he keeps you in this waiting room if he truly loves you!
We know that nothing can separate us from the love of God—nothing! Listen again to this incredible truth from Romans 8:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39).
You may not feel his love, but it doesn’t change the fact that he still loves you and always will.
I’m sure you’ve heard this story, but let me read it for you again:
Footprints
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the
very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.
“Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome
times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when I needed You most
You would leave me.”
The Lord replied, “My son, My precious child,
I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”
— Author Unknown
Before he left to go back to glory with his father, Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b). Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God making intercession for us, but we are not without him because he sent his Spirit to dwell within us, so that we have his constant presence in our lives. In fact, Jesus said that it was for our good that he was going away, so that the Counselor—the Holy Spirit—would come and indwell all believers.
In Hebrews 13:5b we read that God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” And that “never” includes the times when you don’t feel his presence, when instead you feel abandoned and alone. Those are the times he is carrying you.
I love this song by Babbie Mason which says:
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When don’t see His plan
When you can’t trace His hand
Trust His Heart
Can you trust his heart today? Sometimes when I’m holding on because everything seems to be on hold, I think of what Peter said when many of Jesus’ disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67-68).
Where are you going to go when you’re on hold and life seems like an unending stream of bad news, or when you’ve been waiting and waiting for something good to happen and instead, things got worse? What are your options? Honestly, I think there are times when you come to the end of your rope, and all that is left for you to do is to decide if you will trust God or not—if you will believe that he loves you or not. Peter and the other disciples were at a breaking point, not understanding what Jesus was up to, wondering if they had made a huge mistake to cast their lot with this Galilean teacher. But Peter got it right: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
That’s what the disciples needed at that time—words of eternal life; truth that Jesus was the way, the truth and the life, and they could trust him for all eternity. And isn’t that what you need when you’re holding on? You need hope that this is not forever; there is an eternity to come and it will be blessed and perfect.
I just want to encourage you—if you’re holding on while you’re on hold—to trust the heart of God; to let go of your doubts and fears and simply choose to believe that God is sovereign, his timing is right, and his love will never let you go—never!