ACE #310: Are You In a Holding Pattern?

hold·ing pat·tern

noun

noun: holding pattern; plural noun: holding patterns

1. a state or period of no progress or change.
2. a traffic pattern for aircraft at a specified location (holding point) where they are ordered to remain until permitted to land or proceed.

Are you in a spiritual holding pattern?  Both of the above definitions make sense spiritually...really....when you think about it.

How do you think Noah felt on that boat for all of those days and nights...waiting until God gave him a sign (permission, if you will) that everything was all clear...and it was safe to come out of the ark? He had no idea what he would find when the flood was over.

How do you think Jacob felt when he had to wait...another seven years...for Rachel's hand in marriage?  He never wanted Leah in the first place.

How do you think Daniel felt in the lion's den...not knowing what to expect from that hungry lions? Lions are predators, carnivores actually.

None of them felt any different than of any of us...I suppose.  We are unsure.  We are impatient. We feel like the "wait" is going to devour us.

Being in a spiritual holding pattern is a tough place to be patient...to wait....to get permission for movement...to get relief...to remain in that same uncomfortable position...until change comes. 

But a change has to come.  It is guaranteed, if God promised it.  His promises have never returned void for His people:

But God remembered Noah (Genesis 8:1)...and He told Jacob many times, "I will be with you" (Genesis 28:15)...and He sent an angel on Daniel's behalf to shut the mouths of the lions (Daniel 6:22).

So just wait...right where you are...in prayer...in faith...in the holding pattern...because a change has to come.

 Daniel in the Lion's Den

 Jacob with Laban, Rachel, and Leah

 Noah and the Ark

Will you trust God in the "holding pattern" of your life?