Waiting can be tiresome. Yet, life offers multiple opportunities for it. Whether waiting for a traffic light to change, the computer to start or the microwave to finish, most of us dislike any delay. Some waiting just tries our patience. But often there is no certainty about the outcome, as in waiting for the results of a medical test, or to see if a job application is accepted. Sometimes the uncertainty is just over how long we will have to wait. (Is this light ever going to change?)
When my husband and I moved to the South, waiting took on a new dimension for us. We had to adjust to Southern Standard Time. Translated, we found people were often not in a hurry to do anything. In some ways the slower pace was refreshing, but it could be frustrating when we were eager to get something done.
Waiting is hard. Yet its prevalence through various aspects of life is unavoidable.
Much of the time, we are really waiting on God. His time-table is very different from ours. He has His own schedule and His own reasons for proceeding the way He does. He is not necessarily interested in letting us in on all the whys of His actions.
Waiting is a repeated theme in the Bible. A casual reading of a passage may cause us to miss how much time passes in the unfolding of events. After God promised descendants more numerous than the stars, Abraham waited twenty five years for Isaac to be born. Joseph told his brothers of the dream God had given him, but it was 13 years, while he experienced enslavement and unjust imprisonment, before he saw the dream begin to play out. David was anointed king years before he was actually crowned.
Our reading of the Bible compresses time. We think of the flood lasting forty days and nights, but Noah and his family remained on the ark for a year, waiting for the waters to recede. I wonder what went through Noah’s mind in the aftermath. The rain had stopped, but water still covered the earth. With no land in sight, they adjusted to a new normal. They didn’t know how long it would be until they could exit the ark. They may have wondered if they would run out of food. God had brought them through the storm, but the ordeal was not over.
But Noah lived in hope. He opened a window. He was watchful. As he sent out the raven, and then the dove, he actively looked for what God would do next. It is a lesson for us to live in hope, not despair.
Noah, David, Joseph, Abraham, and others in the Bible all learned God keeps His promises. Whatever situation we are in, we usually don’t know how long we will wait for a resolution. Even when we wait in uncertainty, when we don’t know what God will do, we can wait in hope, confident in the Lord’s character. We can rest in His sovereignty and His goodness. Our peace is in knowing He is in control, He knows what He is doing, and He will fulfill His promises. When everything is settled, God’s will prevails. Waiting on God is learning to trust Him.
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18 NIV
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear. Please leave a comment below.
Blessings,
Phyllis
Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay
Copyright 2023 Phyllis L. Farringer
Phyllis,
Your message is a good reminder of God’s loving and sovereign work in our lives. You helped me to think about how His timing comes from immense divine wisdom. It is really an amazing gift to us. So, in faith, we can lay our requests before the Lord & “wait expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3)
Thank you, Charlotte. Yes, His timing does come from His divine wisdom, which is immense and beyond our understanding. We can trust His timing because we can trust Him.
….we can wait in hope, confident in the Lord’s character.
Yes!
Yes, Debby, our confidence and security rest in who He is. Thanks for stopping by.
i hate waiting
I think most of us dislike it.