In a previous post we noted how so many of today’s young people seem to be anxious, depressed, tired, and overwhelmed. As Bible teachers we have the privilege of helping them get to know God as the One who is caring enough, great enough, and wise enough to handle all that pertains to them.
But, simply knowing about Him and believing all that to be true isn’t enough. They must also learn to wait on the Lord (Isa. 40:30-31), to put their hope and trust in Him, even when life doesn’t seem to be going the way they wish it would.
Why Youth Need to Learn to Not Only Know the Lord but also to Wait on the Lord
While knowing the fullness of who God is holds great importance for teens to rise above the fray of life, it will only take them so far on their faith journey. What happens when this God who cares about them and is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20), doesn’t seem to be answering their prayers? What happens when the change in their lives doesn’t occur right away or when their troubles fail to disappear?
Most teens have only known a life where problems get solved in movies or on TV within a half hour to perhaps a couple hours. They’re accustomed to touching a screen or speaking into a device for instant answers. They zap their food so it’s ready in seconds or minutes.
Life in Christ doesn’t generally work that way for God looks at the big picture. He wants to grow and mature them which is a process that takes time. So, while God is able, He may not respond in the way and with the speed with which today’s youth have grown accustomed. Hence, we see the importance of teaching them to wait on the Lord.
What Waiting on the Lord Looks Like
The NIV translates the original word as hope which essentially requires waiting, looking for, and expecting God to work. That’s faith in a God who is able to not only know what to do, is capable of doing it, but also has the wisdom to do it in the best time and way.
Encourage teens to …
- keep praying and not give up while accepting that God is sovereign and may not answer as they expect
- look forward to a day when God will right all the wrongs while accepting that this might not be that day
- continue to lean into His love and grace depending on Him and believing that He knows what is best for them even if they don’t see it
- be still long enough to absorb the strength and peace God wants to give them rather than fretting and fussing