For most of us, waiting isn’t a quality in which we excel. We don’t like waiting, whether it’s at a traffic light, in the grocery store checkout line, at the doctor’s office, or anticipating an important email, phone call or letter. Not to mention waiting to be seated at a popular restaurant or holding on the phone for the next available customer service agent.
When children are young, they can’t wait until they get older. Teenagers grow impatient waiting for the time when they can drive, then declare independence from their parents. Even when our school days are over and we’re on our own, waiting remains one of our weaker attributes – waiting for the weekend, waiting for that promotion at work, or waiting to retire.
Like it or not, waiting also plays an important role in our spiritual life. There’s verse after verse about trusting in the Lord and waiting on Him to act is response to our prayers and needs. In Psalm 27, for instance, King David writes about His confidence in God even in the most dreadful situations. He closes with the declaration, “I am still confident of this: I will see the good news of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:13-14).
One of my favorite Psalms addresses this topic not once but twice. Also written by David, he cites a number of proactive steps – “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord…. Commit our way to the Lord; trust in Him…” (Psalm 37:3-5). But then he hits the spiritual brake pedal, exhorting us to, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…. Wait for the Lord and keep His way…” (Psalm 37:7,34).
The Israelite king must have become accustomed to waiting on the Lord, because in Psalm 130:5-6 he wrote, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” And the prophet Micah declared, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7).
When we read such passages, our first reaction might be something like, ‘Yeah, but that’s easier said than done.’ Because if we’re honest, we know what we want – and we want it now. In His Word, however, the Lord essentially is telling us, “I don’t work that way.”
We could point to dozens of other passages, but recently I came to the realization that not only are there are times when it’s necessary to wait on God, but also times when He’s waiting on us. It says in Isaiah 30:18, “So the Lord must wait for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help” (New Living Translation).
Another translation of the same verse words this differently, but as powerfully: "Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.”
What does this mean, God waiting on us? Elsewhere the apostle Peter noted, “…God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built…” (1 Peter 3:20). And the apostle Paul admonished his readers, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you towards repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
At one time this might not have made sense for me – God patiently waiting on me. But now, considering my erratic, sometimes stumbling walk with the Lord over the years, I can recall numerous times when it seems obvious He was doing exactly that – waiting on me to turn to Him.
It goes back to my childhood, teen and college years. I had attended church as a boy, learned lots of Bible stories and did believe in God – in an intellectual sense. But I kept Him at an arm’s length, with no intention of letting Him play an active role in my life. You might say I felt comfortable being my own god. In times of crisis I would send up a “flare prayer,” asking for God’s help, but when the ‘emergency’ had passed, I went back to doing things my way.
Thankfully, the Lord did wait on me, as the verse says, longing to show how gracious He is. Through a chain of circumstances too complicated to discuss here, He saw fit to move me from darkness to light, enabling me to become born again as a child of God. But it didn’t ended there.
I recall times – more than I could number – when I was muddling through some major challenge, doing my best to figure out how to resolve it. It might have involved a job situation, financial problems, or a family issue. No matter what I tried, no matter how much I worried about it, answers seemed out of my reach. Then in desperation I’d pray something like, “Lord, I give up. I can’t do this!” And He’d respond, not audibly, but I’d get the sense He was telling me, “I’ve been waiting. I know you can’t do it. But I can. Just watch and see what I’m going to do.” And without fail He’d work things out better than I could have imagined.
This reality – that God does wait on us, demonstrating far more patience than we ever could – is crucial for us to understand. Whether the Lord’s calling us to enter into a saving relationship with Him, tolerating our resistance, or wanting to show He’s the best guide, provider, counselor and partner we could ever ask for, He’s waiting on us. He’s patient, that’s true. But why keep Him waiting any longer?
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