Wading into the Waiting Game

Whoever enjoys waiting, raise your hand. Next, tell us how long you’ve had problems telling the truth! I doubt any of us has much use for having to wait, although I suppose some can tolerate it more than others. 

I hate standing in line at the grocery store, especially behind someone whose casual conversation with the cashier indicates they have nothing to do for the rest of the day. And don’t get me started on my propensity for selecting the slowest-moving line. Sometimes I think traffic lights are programmed with a pernicious capacity for testing our patience. “Come on! Turn green already! What’s the holdup?”

By all accounts, however, waiting at a doctor’s office is the worst. Whether it’s for a wellness visit, sickness, or we’re there for some kind of treatment, we already hate being there. Having to wait only adds to what ails us. Recently I was scheduled for a medical procedure at a local hospital. My wife, who had to drive me home afterward, and I arrived promptly at 8:30 a.m., as instructed. Before long we were guided to a short-stay treatment room and told my case was next. The medical staff should be ready for me a little after 10. So, we waited.

As the clock approached 11, we asked what was going on. “Very soon,” we were told, but noon passed, then 12:30. Apparently the doctors and staff went to lunch. Everybody’s got to eat, right? Except for the patient who hadn’t eaten since 9 the previous evening. “Either get this procedure going,” I thought, “or bring me a cheeseburger!”

They finally took me into the treatment lab just after 1 p.m. The procedure was completed and I awoke from the anesthetic around 3, but we had to stay another eight hours before I was fit to leave! By the time the nurse signed my release, I wanted to run out of there – although they warned that wouldn’t be wise.

The other day my wife was preparing to leave for a day of babysitting with the grandkids when she discovered a tire on her vehicle was flat. She took my car instead, and I called for roadside assistance. Since changing a tire these days has become more complicated than solving a Rubik’s Cube, I willingly endured the 50-minute wait for the repair service to arrive. In this case, the wait was worth it. So I’ve had my share of waiting of late. It’s not fun, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Waiting is integral to the spiritual life as well. Many times God has said “Go!” and I’ve eagerly gone, but sometimes He’s said, “Wait!” I haven’t been as thrilled with that. Only in hindsight could I discern why I needed to wait – and why the Lord knew exactly what He was doing by keeping me in His “waiting room.”

Reading the Scriptures, it’s amazing how often God requires His people to wait on Him and the fulfillment of His plans. Abraham and Sarah were promised a son, but had to wait years for son Isaac. Joseph was central to the Lord’s plan to save the people of Israel from famine and relocate them to Egypt, but he had to suffer a series of seemingly unjust waits to prepare him for that role.

When time came for the Israelites to be freed from slavery in Egypt, God handpicked Moses to lead the way. But first he had to withstand 40 years in exile. The apostle Paul, following his dramatic conversion on the road to Emmaus, was placed in God’s waiting room for years, “marinating” him until he was ready to serve as a key leader of the early Church.

Faith is an important part of waiting, whether it’s anticipating the nurse calling you back to the examining room, or going into “pause mode” while God carries out His will – His timetable, not ours. When we take to heart God’s promises and accept them by faith, the waiting becomes easier.

For instance, Psalm 46:10 admonishes, “be still and know that I am God.” The only way we can do that is if we trust the Lord’s character, know He’s in control, and is after our best interests. For someone dealing with a terminal disease, that’s easier said than done. But not impossible, as several of my friends have demonstrated.

Psalm 37 presents both an action plan – and an advisory to wait: “Trust in the Lord, and do good…. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.... Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:3-7). Then, in case we missed it the first time, the psalm adds, “…those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth” (verse 9), and “Wait on the Lord and keep His way” (verse 34).

The trusting, delighting and committing aren’t too bad. At least they feel like we’re doing something. It’s the resting and waiting that cause me difficulty.

Through the years, God has taught that if I’m willing to wait, even if reluctantly, He will indeed “do exceeding abundantly beyond anything we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). Not so sure about that? Just you wait!

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. 

The Weight of the Wait

Waiting, or even having to slow down, cuts against our grain.

TV commercials bombard us with images of juicy hamburgers, delicious-looking pizza, or scrumptious desserts, then we see ads for weight-loss programs or diet drinks. Seem ironic? Either it’s irony – or a conspiracy!

Obviously, the problem of being overweight and the health implications weigh heavily on our society. But there’s a greater burden, even for those who aren’t afflicted with copious pounds: The weight of having to wait.

We don’t like waiting. For anything. Whether it’s at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green, standing in line at the grocery store or post office, or having our high-tech TV take just a few moments to come on, we hate to wait. We want what we want – and we want it NOW.

It’s even more acute when dealing with important issues in our lives – awaiting test results for a worrisome diagnosis; hoping to hear good news after a promising job interview; searching the mail day after day anticipating an acceptance letter from the college we want to attend. With the unrest confronting society, many factors are involved, but among them is the unwillingness of people to wait for desired change.

We’re even wait-resistant when it comes to lifetime achievements. We’d love to become acclaimed musicians, or accomplished business people, or stellar athletes, but are reluctant to invest the thousands of hours necessary for becoming exceptional at our craft. Unfortunately, as Stephen R. Graves wrote recently on his website about leadership, “There is no speed cooking in greatness.”

No one watches pots anymore waiting for them to boil; we lurk with arms folded in front of microwaves waiting for instant meals to be heated. And impatience, this aversion to having to wait for any reason, seems more pronounced with each new generation.

Nevertheless, like death and taxes, waiting is a non-negotiable part of the human experience. Apparently that’s exactly as God intended.

Repeatedly the Scriptures tell us we need to learn to wait – gladly, not grudgingly. Psalm 46:10 tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  When we desperately need or desire something, but feel helpless to bring it about, the discipline of waiting underscores the reality that He’s at work and is the one to fulfill that need.

During difficult times I’ve turned to Psalm 37 for guidance and comfort. It teaches, “Trust in the Lord and do good…. Delight yourself in the Lord…. Commit your way to the Lord…” (Psalm 37:3-5), and each time I’ve thought, “I can do that! Yup, no problem!” But then I come to verse 7, which does pose a problem: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” In case the admonition is missed the first time, it’s revisited in verse 34: “Wait for the Lord and keep his way.”

Oh, man! Who wants to do that, right?

And yet, there’s a certain beauty in waiting. It doesn’t mean sitting on a stump, frozen in place, submitting to God’s mercy. As devotional writer David McCasland explains, “wait in the Bible often means, ‘to look eagerly for, to hope, and to expect.’” As I’ve noted before, biblical hope isn’t “hope so,” but rather earnest expectation or confident assurance.

So when we read in Psalm 25:3, “No one whose hope is in (God) will ever be put to shame,” we can take that promise to the bank, spiritually speaking. We can still be actively involved, doing what we know to do about the situation that’s causing us to wait. At the same time, we can rest in the assurance that our waiting will not be in vain, that the Lord’s timing is perfect, and His resolution will meet or surpass our greatest dreams.