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Note: This post is part of the Two Weeks of Waiting Devotional. To return to the table of contents for the devotional, click here. To read this as a downloadable ebook, subscribe below.
Growing up, my siblings and I used to make Christmas lists with 2 columns: Wants and Needs. On the “Wants” side would be a few books, new clothes, and a new board game. On the “Needs” side would be things like a puppy (our parents had already definitively told us we’d never get one), a new video game console (something super expensive when we already had one), or, as we got older, an all-expenses paid vacation to somewhere ridiculous – Aruba, anyone? (yeah, right).
In other words, the term “need” was used rather loosely.
Even though I’m older now and no longer make Christmas lists, I still have a list of “Needs,” buried somewhere in my subconscious. But this time, instead of my list being full of far-fetched things that I just really, really want, I’m afraid I really do act as if my wants are actually “needs.”
Do you?
What happens if you don’t end up ever having children, at the end of all of this? Or what if you don’t get healed? What happens if you never get whatever it is you’re waiting for?
Do you need those things to be content?
Some people might argue that allowing yourself to even think this way is too negative. But I disagree. The key to finding contentment while you wait on God is a bit counterintuitive: You have to realize that you don’t actually need whatever it is you’re waiting for.
God supplies our needs; not the things of this world.
Does this mean that we stop having a list of “Wants”? Certainly not. Knowing that I don’t need children to be content doesn’t stop me from wanting them. It is not wrong to have desires. The problem comes when those desires start to become the key to our contentment.
Further study + reflection
Finding contentment in the midst of seemingly unanswered prayers or times of waiting on God is not easy, but it starts with a realization of what you really need. Read the story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4. She is a perfect example of a woman who found contentment in God despite her deep longing for a child. Then check out my commentary on her story.
Note: This post is part of the Two Weeks of Waiting Devotional. To return to the table of contents for the devotional, click here. To read this as a downloadable ebook, subscribe below.
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