Wayne Stiles - Waiting on God: What to Do When God Does Nothing

2015 by Wayne Stiles

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4854-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations labeled Message are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled YLT are from Youngs Literal Translation.

Waiting on the Lord can sound like an irritating pause-button on life until it gets back to being more exciting. But in this remarkable new book, Wayne Stiles debunks that myth, sharing how active and engaging waiting on God can bejust a few chapters, and youll be convinced!

Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center

Wayne Stiles gives a down-to-earth approach to why God puts us through periods of waiting. During that time, we learn more about trust, tolerance, faith, and sovereigntyand in the learning, we grow up. Wayne has chosen the biblical life of Joseph to teach us what God is doingand why! And in the reading, we get a clear picture of the value of putting confidence in God rather than putting hope in our preferred plan.

Luci Swindoll, author/speaker

The seeming silence of God is a serious problem for the suffering. The life of Joseph as exposed by Wayne Stiles will be a great encouragement to anyone who has had to wait to experience Gods answers. Wayne is intensely biblical and insightfully practical. He does his homework and he writes from the heart.

Dr. Mark L. Bailey , president of Dallas Theological Seminary

The story of Joseph has always captured me, but Ive never filtered it through the discipline of waiting. Wayne Stiles unpacks important and practical biblical truths that will help people finally embrace patient waiting as a lifestyle.

Mary DeMuth , coauthor of The Day I Met Jesus

I hate to wait... and Im not alone! We all want immediate answers, rapid-fire results, and instant fulfillment. But God operates on a different timetable. So how do we sync our watches with his? Wayne Stiles shares the answer in his fascinating study on the life of Joseph. You will learn much about Joseph. But more importantly, you will learn lessons about waiting on God that will help you develop a persistent, long-term faith.

Dr. Charlie Dyer , professor-at-large of Bible, Moody Bible Institute; host of The Land and the Book radio program

In life, we all encounter the best of times and the worst of times. My worse times are when Im forced to waiton a phone call, a stoplight, an important diagnosis, a long-awaited trip, you name it. Impatience is a taskmaster. And waiting on God? Well, that can be the most difficult wait of all. I gravitate to those people who help me learn how to wait with patience and perspective. Wayne Stiles is that kind of person, and his new book, Waiting on God: What to Do When God Does Nothing , is that kind of book. I was hooked when I read the title, and reading the book gave me insight, perspective, and even a little more patience when it comes to waiting on God. I recommend it highly. Its well written, encouraging, and for many of us, even life-changing.

Mary Graham , former president of Women of Faith

For M ATT and C OURTNEY

And for O UR M OTHER who waits no longer

C ONTENTS

He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.... Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the L ORD tested him.

Psalm 105:17, 19

I NTRODUCTION

A few years ago, my jaw dropped as I added up how much I had spent that year on highway tolls. This surprising revelation forced me to reexamine my early morning commute. I decided to take the access road to work each morning instead of the highway.

But I discovered I pay either way. I pay in time or in money. In angst or in cash. Because I seem to have more of time, I pay it at stoplights.

The worst is when the stale green light turns yellow and then stops mewith no one coming the other way. Almost as if the technicians who installed the street sensors cross-wired the lights so that the stoplight would change to red only when I approached. Here comes Wayne; lets make him wait! As I sit at the empty intersection, I observe all these cameras and sensors with enough technology to ticket me when I run the light but not enough knowhow to help me through the intersection in a timely manner.

Five in the morning. Pitch black outside. No crosstraffic. The light turns red.

So I stop. I have stopped just to stop. Dead silent. No one around. Its just me and this long red lightplus seven cameras pointing my direction, daring me to cross the line. I imagine some officer somewhere observing me through the camera, giggling at the poor guy stopped at the light just to stop.

But there has to be a reason , I reason. Maybe Im stopped at this light because on the other side of town somewhere a light is green and someone else is cruising through. Maybe my light is red so that their light can be green. I have to believe there is a reason for the red light. A good reason, that is.

Because I trust God, I have to believe that waiting at the light in the dark with no other traffic serves a purpose. I can see no reason to waitexcept for this light. So I wait.

As I sit there morning after morning (saving money, remember), I have time to think. Lots of time.

I began to make a mental note of all the reasons we wait: stoplights, waiting rooms, suppertime, difficult meetings, paydays, slowpokes in the fast lane, slowpokes in the slow lane, anticipating meeting someone we admire, a childs athletic practice, a person who needs to change but who stays blind to their fault, weekends, inspiration to write, that first kiss, those lab results, just the right moment to have a hard conversation, someone to take a breath so others can join the conversation, tax refunds, gardens to grow, investments to grow, Christmas morning, the mail, delayed airplanes, fast food, and public restroom lines. The list ends only when life does. We do a lot of waiting.

But the most difficult kind of waiting? Waiting on God.

Waiting on God usually means hanging on until he changes our circumstancesbe they relational, financial, physical, or even spiritual. The trouble is, God seldom seems in a hurry.

At all.

What.

So.

Ever.

Instead, God often allows our circumstances to stay the sameor even to worsenwhile he waits on us to change.

So... both God and we are in a waiting game, idling in neutral until someone moves first. We want God to change situations. God wants us to change in them. We want relief. God wants repentance. We want happiness. God wants holiness. We want pleasure. God wants piety. Its like a game of Ping-Pong. Or tug-of-war.