"The Waiting Room"

James 4.10 NKJV

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

There are many things I want but even when I work hard to obtain them, they elude my grasp. I feel disappointed and angry. I may even blame others whom I perceive to be obstacles in my path toward the acquisition of these things.

I do not know why I cannot have everything I want. I often place my desires on the altar and God freely returns most of them to me. He seems to approve and even encourage my pursuit of personal fulfillment. But somehow some of my most cherished desires remain just beyond my reach. I pray but receive not, in spite of promises the Bible makes:

“…ye have not, because ye ask not.”
James 4.26 KJV

Perhaps my motives in question, because James added: 

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong

motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
James 4.3 NIV

I ask God to shed light on the motives of my heart. When my motives seem self-serving, I try to let my desires go, but that’s not easy for me.

I have heard God answers prayers in three ways… Yes, No, and Wait. The third answer is the most difficult for me. If God says “Yes,” I rejoice. When He says “No,” verified by my sensitive conscience, circumstancial obstacles, or on the advice of people I trust, I can usually let it go. But when God says “Wait” or (even worse) “Yes and wait,” I have no other option. I am thrust into the tension between promise and fulfillment. I am required to do what I dislike the most... sit quietly in Dr. God’s waiting room until the Great Physician is ready to see me!

Waiting is a matter of humility. Like a demanding child, I want what I want... and I want it now. But when Jesus says “Wait,” bowing to His will and forsaking my own is painful. “Waiting” demands humbleness of heart and inner resolve not to take matters into my own hands. Trusting Him to fulfill His promise in His way and in His time is the essence of the humility to which I am called. 

I suspect learning humility may be more important than all the other things I think I want.

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

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I found these symbols at the AIGA website. AIGA was founded in 1914 as a professional association for design (http://www.aiga.org/). They are the universal symbols for men's bathroom and waiting room.