To hear this poem presented in church with an introduction and a devotional challenge, please click here:
This poem was originally passed on to me by a friend going through a tough time. As time went on and her situation never seemed to be resolved, I decided to dedicate a page to her. As I was trying to determine what poem to send out for today, I read this to my sister, and it really fit a trial in her life. She was encouraged and exhorted me to use this for today.
Waiting For A Change
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait!”
“Wait?, you say, wait!” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?
By FAITH I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.”
“My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to WAIT?
I’m needing a ‘yes,’ a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.”
“And Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, as we shall receive.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!”
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting… for what?”
He seemed then to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want — but, you wouldn’t know ME.”
“You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;
You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.”
“You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You’d know that I give and I save … (for a start),
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.”
The flow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.”
“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’
Yes, your dreams for your loved ones overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss! if I lost what I’m doing in you!”
“So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
THAT THE GREATEST OF GIFTS IS TO GET TO KNOW ME.
And though oft may My answers seem terribly late,
My wisest of answers is still but to WAIT.”
~Author Unknown~
And we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true,
and we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life.
1 John 5:20