'Wait' Is An Answer

When we taught five day clubs this summer, and we were teaching the children about prayer, we would ask them "Does God ALWAYS answer our prayers?" And sometimes they said yes, and sometimes they said no- but if they said yes, we would often go on to ask: "What if I prayed that God would give me something, or show me something, and NOTHING happened? Did God still answer my prayer?" And, once again, sometimes they said yes, and sometimes they said no. But, hopefully, by the time we had finished teaching, they had all recognized and understood the fact that God DOES always answer, and that His answer might be 'Yes!', and it might be 'No!', or it might be 'Wait!'.
'Yes' is always an exciting answer to receive- and even the finality and clarification of a 'No' can sometimes be a relief, and a way of moving on ahead to something new. But 'Wait' is slippery. It hardly feels like an answer at all in many situations. Fortunately, feelings have nothing to do with it. 'Wait' IS an answer, and God has a right to give whatever answer He knows is best. It is for me to learn to embrace the wild, terrifying liberty of accepting that I DON'T need to know any more than He chooses to show me, or see any further ahead than He illuminates. Simply to 'Wait upon the Lord.'
And even when things seem to be in a desperate muddle, His 'wait' is all the clarification and information we need.

Confusion tightened at my throat:
Should I forbear, or should I gain?
The answers that I gave by rote
Were distant miles away from pain.
They fell upon my anguished ear
As songs the deaf but strain to hear.

I gazed and gazed, with clouding sight-
Once, wept a bitter haze of tears-
Once laughed, although my throat was tight,
And head was dizzied by my fears.
I could not guess, nor could I see
Which way the knots were leading me.

But He who weaves the tangled strands,
And sorts confusion, drew me near.
He took my knotted hopes in hands
Which gently worked the tangle clear.
My answer comes not soon, nor late:
The clarity He gave was, 'Wait!'

Oh, God, when my life seems one mass of desperate tangles, teach me to remember that You, and not I are the weaver. I look about me, and I see only the nearest, shortest sections of thread, seemingly of conflicting colors- of no pattern at all, or of no pattern which makes sense. But I cannot see very far. You have the loom, and the whole tapestry before you, and every thread is in its place. I know that You make all things beautiful in Your time. I am willing to WAIT- to be woven into a place, and in a manner which I cannot understand. It is not for me to squirm out of position, or dictate to You the proper manner of working Your loom.

Be our focus, God.
Not that we are confused, but that You are the Sorter of Confusion.
Not that we are hurting, but that You are the Comforter.
Not that we are harried, or worried, or stressed, but that You are Stillness, the Prince of peace.
Not that we are sinful and weak, but that You are Holy, and a transformer of sinners.
Not that we feel uncertain and directionless, but that You are THE Way.
Not that we are bewildered and conflicted, but that You are unchanging, and eternally in harmony.