Waiting

Waiting is an inevitable part of life. Today’s society views waiting as a waste of time.
Who wants to wait in a grocery store checkout, the drive-thru, or the doctor’s waiting room? Who wants to wait for the restoration of health or relationships?
We often desire shortcuts, instant results, quick fixes, and miraculous transformations in twenty-four hours or less, please!
As God’s children, we would be wise to see what the Bible says about waiting.
What is your theology of waiting? After all, we all have a theology of waiting, whether or not you have thought of it in those terms. Perhaps you view waiting as a waste of time, and you get irritated, frustrated or angry when you have to wait. Or maybe you consider waiting as valuable time in which God reveals Himself to you in new ways, and you intentionally choose gratitude, faith and joy even amid uncertainty.
The book of Psalms mentions waiting repeatedly.
Reading through Psalms, I have been challenged by the Psalmist’s view of waiting. Recently I read Psalm 27. That’s a familiar one to me, and I often cling to the truth of the first verse of that psalm: “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?”
As I read this psalm a few days ago, the last verse struck me: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:14). Verse 1 reminds us of who God is to us, it’s a certain reality, it brings comfort and helps us fight our fears. Verse 14, at first, seems more challenging, especially if we read it on its own (out of context).
You may find yourself thinking, “I cannot wait any longer for this answer or for this relationship to be restored. I am not strong enough to wait!”
I have been there too. The good news is, considering what verse 1 (and many other passages in Scripture) reveals to us about God, we are not waiting in our own strength or power; we are not waiting on someone unreliable, we are waiting on GOD. He is the One whose power is unlimited, who brings light out of darkness, who rescues us, who gives us no reason to fear life’s challenges!
Our strength and courage come from Him when we choose to trust Him fully.
Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they who wait (same Hebrew word as used in Ps. 27:14) for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint.”
When we focus on Jesus in seasons of waiting, He strengthens us and sustains us. When we choose to wait (the Hebrew word means to wait, look for, hope, expect) on God, we are renewed from the inside out. He restores our souls (Ps. 23:3).
Will we steward our waiting seasons, or will we waste them? We all have times of waiting, and we all get to choose how we will respond to them. If you are reading this today, don’t get stuck in the past or fret over how you have responded in the past. Even those are opportunities from which you can learn. Nothing is wasted in God’s economy. He restores the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). There is value in every moment and every season. God is Sovereign, and nothing happens to us without His knowledge and permission. How we respond while we wait reveals what we truly believe about God. Will we choose to worship God in the waiting seasons? My prayer is that we will choose to wait on God with gratitude, joy and faith empowered by His Spirit.