Overcoming a Big ‘Wait’ Problem

Nearly every week new reports surface about America’s growing weight “epidemic.” They speak about the alarming percentage of men, women and children tipping the obesity scale. It’s a problem, without a doubt. There’s another pressing issue that sounds the same, but looks very different: Our collective “wait problem.”

Our troubles with “wait” are magnified by our fast-food, microwaved, gotta-have-it-now mentality – as is its weighty homonym. Despite technological and cultural changes, the problem with waiting has plagued humankind ever since there was a…humankind. History shows us repeatedly the dire consequences that can result from inability to wait. The Scriptures offer many cases in point.

God had told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but when the tempter suggested there would be no harm in sampling the tree’s fruit, the very first couple didn’t wait to ask for permission. They disobeyed God for the first time, setting in motion chains of sin dominoes that continue falling to this day (Genesis 3).

God had promised Abram and his wife, Sarai, would have a son, but they tired of waiting. Sarai told Abram to take her maidservant Hagar and have a child through her. Their plan succeeded, and Hagar presented Abram with a son, Ishmael. The Bible stated he would become “a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:12). We still see ramifications of that ill-advised choice today.

After fleeing from Egypt, the Israelites repeatedly demonstrated their reluctance to wait, much to their subsequent dismay. Other examples too numerous to mention appear throughout the Old and New testaments. It’s clear unwillingness to wait for whatever we happen to be desiring is hardly a 21^st century phenomenon.

Waiting, regardless of the reason,
isn't easy for many of us.

What have you been waiting for that has tested your patience? On the work front, it might be a new job, pay raise, or promotion. If you’re single, it might be finding Mr. or Miss “Right.” For some couples, it’s yearning for that first child – as was the case with Abram and Sarai, along with other women in the Bible like Rachel, Rebekah, Hannah, and Elizabeth.

Sometimes it’s something as inconsequential as a slow-changing traffic light; anticipating a much-wanted item to go on sale, or waiting for the new coach at State U to restore the alma mater to glory on the gridiron or court.

A wait problem can be frustrating and disheartening. The much-hoped-for objective seems just out of reach, and impatience sets in. This might be why essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson advised, “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

Over and over the Scriptures assure us that having to wait is not a problem, but an opportunity. Psalm 37, after encouraging us to trust in the Lord, delight in Him, and commit all that we do to Him, admonishes, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7). Later in the same psalm, it reaffirms that instruction: “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land…” (verse 34).

After observing how dangers and turmoil around us might prompt us to leap into action, moving ahead of God’s plan, Psalm 46:10 tells us to patiently wait: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

Waiting receives added emphasis in Psalm 27:13-14, in which King David recalled how he learned to avoid headstrong acts: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!”

One of my favorites, Isaiah 40:31, cites a particular benefit of waiting: "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

We can find many other passages in which the virtues of waiting on God and His timing are highlighted. In our days of short attention spans and instant gratification, waiting seems a lost art. But it’s one well-worth recapturing. 

It’s All a Matter of Timing

This may come as a shock to family members and friends (not really), but I’m not always the most patient person. Especially behind the wheel of a car. Even when consulting with Gladys Penelope Snodgrass (GPS) regarding my travel route, it seems I’m always more eager than she is to know when my exit is coming up.

“Come on, Gladys,” I’ll think to myself, “are we getting close?” Then, after maintaining absolute silence for many miles, she speaks up and announces, “In two miles, take exit 56 on the right.” “Well, it’s about time!” I reply, but I know Gladys isn’t listening. She’s getting ready to remind me of the exit in a minute or two, then tell me which way to go once I’ve followed her instructions. She’s rarely early, but never late in providing the desired directions.

I’ve concluded ole GPS (I don’t know how old she is) doesn’t want me to get overwhelmed with too much information. “Just keep your eyes on the road – and the other vehicles around you – and I’ll let you know when you need to do something,” my smartphone-inhabiting roadway companion seems to imply.

When waiting for something important, we often
think, "Okay, any day now would be fine!"

When you think about it, for much of life, in the right timing is what matters in many ways.

Imagine you and your family are preparing to leave for a long-anticipated vacation. You’ve done the pre-boarding ritual online, so all you need to do when you arrive at the airport is check your bags, go through security and then head toward your departure gate, making sure your daughter, let's say she's age 7, sticks close by.

You, your spouse and child, of course, require separate tickets. Your daughter begs you for her ticket, but you continue to hold onto it until time to board. Why? First of all, you want to be certain she doesn’t lose it. “No ticket, no flying!” Airlines are funny that way. And second, even though she might want to hold her own ticket, she doesn’t need it yet. Better to be safe than sorry.

Your foremost concern is making sure that when it’s time for departure, like the Beatles used to sing, “She’s got a ticket to ride.”

Patience and timing can be problematic for many of us spiritually. We pray for something, maybe even an urgent matter, and then expect God to respond almost instantly – kind of like a short-order cook at a mom-and-pop restaurant. We might find ourselves beset with a seemingly unsolvable financial dilemma, seeking a much-needed career change, or desiring a happy resolution to a difficult family problem. God’s schedule, however, rarely aligns with ours.

I know of a couple that’s desperately praying for a new job. Their financial resources are nearly exhausted, and while there are several possibilities, no firm offers as yet. “Why doesn’t God respond sooner?” they might be asking. In turn, He might have questions of His own: “Have you missed any meals yet? Do you have any bills you haven’t been unable to pay?”

Like my friendly GPS and her faithful guidance when I travel, God usually doesn’t provide His answers early – but He’s never late. As Psalm 37:25 assures us, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

The apostle Paul spoke directly to God’s sense of timing when he observed, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The context concerns our eternal destiny, but I think the principle applies to any circumstances we face: “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.”

One of the so-called minor prophets affirms this in the little book of Habakkuk: “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3). God, without a doubt, will be right on time.

So, when we’ve praying but have yet to see God’s answer to our petitions, what are we to do? Another portion of the psalm cited above provides the answer: “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him…. Wait for the LORD and keep His way“ (Psalm 37:4-7,34).

It might not be easy, as I’ve experienced many times. But we have a clear promise: “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” And probably in a way that’s much better than what we would have imagined.

The Wisdom of Patience

You find all kinds of interesting things on social media. Viewpoints that you agree with, perspectives that infuriate you, videos that make you laugh, others that make you cry, and photos that truly embody the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

I saw one of the latter recently, a large dog patiently and wisely waiting a few feet away as a skunk munches from his bowl of food. Not sure who took the photo, but the message is classic. Common sense may be a vanishing commodity among the human race, but it seems canines still know how to use it.

This got me thinking about how patience and wisdom converge – and how when exercised properly, they can save us from a world of hurt.

I think of wisdom as common sense with a college education. Although some of the wisest people I’ve met never took a college entrance exam. They gained their wisdom while attending the School of Hard Knocks & Experience. They’d be quick to agree that if a skunk should start gobbling your lunch, maybe staying hungry for a little while longer really isn’t that bad an option.

Sadly, patience isn’t such a prized quality anymore, either. We wait anxiously for that email, or texted photo, someone promised us just seconds ago. Nuking a frozen meal in the microwave for a couple of minutes seems like an eternity. We pay extra for that online treasure to ensure we receive it by FedEx tomorrow.

College grads change jobs almost as fast as they change their minds, unwilling to invest the time required to advance through the corporate ranks. “Why can’t I just start as CEO the first day?” Newlyweds exchange vows with visions of unending bliss, then decide to bail out after a year or two because the challenge of turning two very different individuals into a real husband-wife team is too difficult. Stockholders aren’t interested in long-range plans – they want huge dividends now.

From a spiritual perspective, however, patience isn’t just an option. It’s mandatory. I can think of times when I was eager to make a job change, but God kept saying, “Not yet.” He used Psalm 37 in particular to hammer home this idea for me. After reading encouraging words like, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will do this…” (Psalm 37:4-5), I was thinking, “All right. I’m on it. Delight. Commit. Trust. Okay, Lord, let’s getting moving!”

A couple verses later, however, I read, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7). Huh? What’s up with that? Who wants to wait?

But that’s exactly what God wanted me to do. And in case I missed the instruction the first time, later in the same psalm He said, “Wait for the Lord and keep his way…” (Psalm 37:34). In fact, the more I looked into it, the more I realized He’s a big fan of patience and waiting. In Psalm 46:10, for example, God inspired the psalmist to write, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Many of the patriarchs of the faith – Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, the prophets, Peter, Paul and others – became experts at being patient, whether they liked it or not. God’s timing, they discovered, wasn’t the same as theirs. Yet in the end they were wise enough to realize His plans and intentions were far better than anything they could have imagined.

So next time you’re feeling antsy and something inside of you is screaming, “Do something! Anything! Even if it’s wrong!”, remember the skunk feasting on the dog’s food while Fido is wisely keeping his distance. You’ll rarely go wrong by exercising patience and wisdom.