Waiting on God When He’s Waiting on Us

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? 

Finding Ourselves Stuck in God’s Waiting Room

Ever walk up to a cashier who says, “Sorry for your wait”? The first time I heard that I hesitated, wondering if she was referring to what the scales told me that morning. Then I realized she wasn’t saying “weight.” 

 

But many times we do wish people would sincerely apologize and say, “Sorry for your wait.” We’re an impatient people and hate being kept waiting, especially when driving. If we’re at a red light and the person in front of us doesn’t move the instant it turns green, we reach for our car horn to “wake them up.” 

 

When road construction narrows a highway by a lane or two, we see “special” people speed along the berm to get a few cars further ahead. Why wait when you can cut in line, right? And when someone decides to take his or her good old time in the fast lane, we’re inclined to think or say uncomplimentary things about their ancestry.

But our widespread lack of patience isn’t limited to our time on the roadways. Who hasn’t started fidgeting while waiting in the doctor’s office, checking the time every couple of minutes, nervously tapping our toes, or imagining new symptoms we didn’t have when we arrived? Physicians may have patients, but their patients quickly grow impatient.

 

Self-checkout lines at grocery and department stores have become popular because we don’t have to wait behind people at the regular checkout line who dilly-dally, ignoring the conga line of shoppers behind them. Recognizing our proneness to impatience, Amazon has capitalized by offering same-day delivery in some areas. ‘I want it. And I want it now!’

 

Our aversion to waiting becomes evident when we’re ready to leave for a special event but our companion’s still in the midst of final preparations. We grow impatient for someone to answer whom we’ve called on speed-dial. Patience may be a virtue, but our collective lack of it as a society serves as further evidence that we’re not a virtuous nation. 

 

So, it’s not particularly comforting for many folks to discover that waiting – and exercising patience – are important recurring themes in the Bible. They’re among God’s most effective strategies for fostering our spiritual growth.

 

You don’t want to know how many times the word “wait” appears in the Scriptures. The term “be still” is used more than a dozen times. And the words “patient,” “patience” and “patiently” combined are found more than 40 times. So, they must be significant for the Lord and His purposes.

 

In my favorite of the Psalms, we’re instructed, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7), and then for emphasis we’re told, “Wait for the Lord and keep His way” (Psalm 37:34). Verse 10 implies waiting when it declares, “A little while, and the wicked will be no more….” It doesn’t stipulate how long a “little while” will be. In the eyes of many of us, we’re still waiting for that.

 

What’s the purpose for all this waiting, this ‘being still’? Psalm 46:10 gives us a partial answer: “Be still and know that I am the Lord.” As we’re waiting, knowing we’re helpless – and maybe even feeling hopeless – to do anything about our circumstances, God is taking His time so that when the solution comes, there will be no question that it’s His doing.

 

Often periods of waiting have to do with suffering. Whether physical, mental, emotional or all of the above, we desire for our suffering to end. At such times, waiting and being patient are just the things we don’t want to do. But even in times of great adversity, God’s delays have a purpose.

 

Romans 5:3-5 states, “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” This informs us that suffering and waiting can be key ingredients for shaping our character and ultimately, our faith.

 

James 1:2-4 expands on that: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

 

Reading that, I’m reminded of Hebrews 11:1 which affirms, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Couple that with 2 Corinthians 5:7, which asserts, “We walk by faith, not by sight,” we realize that God’s “waiting room” is an important part of His process for building and strengthening our faith.

 

If the Lord gave us whatever we asked for, whenever we wanted it, that wouldn’t require much if any faith, would it? But He isn’t our servant. He’s our loving, all-knowing Father who promises to answer all of our prayers and requests according to His perfect will.

 

Sometimes we have a need that must be met immediately, and God graciously meets it. As Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Other times, however, our ‘urgent’ needs are merely reflections of our impatience and reluctance to wait on the Lord’s perfect timing – never early, never late, but always right on time.

 

If you find yourself in God’s waiting room right now, keep trusting. The Lord certainly has something far greater in mind than to provide the answer to your prayers right now. In fact, He might even be preparing an answer that you couldn't have hoped for or imagined. I’ve experienced that many times in my life, even though admittedly, I’m still not good at waiting.

Being Still in an Gotta-Get-Going World

Much as we hate it, sometimes being still is the best thing for us.

When something I read in the Bible or a spiritual passage in a book catches my attention, I usually go, “Hmm.” But when I read the same thought more than once from different sources, I wonder, “Is God trying to tell me something?”

This happened a couple of weeks ago when two devotional readings referred to the same passage on the same day: Psalm 46:10, which says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Sounds simple, right? NOT! Not at all.

Being still isn’t something most of us value these days. We praise busy people, those whose hectic lives practically have them passing themselves on the highway, rushing from one event to the next. The pace of life seems faster all the time, so “being still” seems to make as much sense as hanging from a tree by our toes.

However, it’s apparently something God values. In one of my favorite psalms, King David wrote, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7), and later he restated the same sentiment: “Wait for the Lord and keep his way” (Psalm 37:34).

Being still – and waiting – run counter to our gotta-get-going, have-to-do-it-now culture. Patience isn’t a trait we prize. But sometimes being still is the best way to move forward spiritually.

Imagine having the opportunity to be in the presence of one of history’s legendary people, maybe someone like Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Florence Nightingale, Mark Twain, or Jackie Robinson. Admittedly, quite a diverse assortment of people – and all dead. But just imagine.

Would you tell them how busy you are and rush off, or would you put everything else on hold so you could enjoy a rare conversation with them? Hopefully glean some of their wisdom? Well, how about an opportunity to stop – be still – and listen to Jesus, arguably the most influential person who’s ever walked the earth?

The world we live in offers us little in the way of peace. Whether it’s the unsettling news that bombards us day after day; deadlines and demands we must deal with in the workplace; stresses in our homes; fears from within and without we wrestle with; or other factors that rattle our mental cages. That’s why God suggests, urges, even commands, “Be still and know that I am God.”

During the stillness and the quiet, we remember, “(God) will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3). In those moments we can practice the admonition to “not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Do you find yourself often, or even always, in a state of high anxiety? Do you hear the phrase, “peace that transcends all understanding,” and wonder what that means? Maybe it’s time to step on the brakes, exit the high-speed freeway of life for a little while, and just “be still and know that He is God.” It might just change your day. It could even change your entire life!

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.

Struggling With a ‘Wait’ Problem

Apparently an aversion to waiting is as old as time. Note the facial
expressions on these statues at Walt Disney World's Epcot.

A friend and fellow blogger, Len Allen, recently wrote about what he called the Bible’s “worst four-letter word.” What was the word? Before you let your imagination run wild, it’s wait.

Statistics indicate eight out of every 10 Americans wrestle with their weight, but there’s another problem that’s even more universal: the struggle with “wait.” If we live in large metropolitan areas and use public transportation, we hate having to wait on the bus, the train or the subway. If we’re in a grocery store, we hate waiting in the checkout line. The same holds true in retail stores, restaurants, the department of motor vehicles, the doctor’s office, even churches when we arrive late and can’t be seated until the pastor finishes the opening prayer.

For whatever reason, I’ve found it most difficult to wait when career issues were involved. Years ago I was looking for a new job and had been interviewed by an executive recruiter. Rather than patiently waiting to hear from the recruiter, I called every other day to ask about progress. I never got the job offer – they probably were looking for someone with more patience.

Another time I was ready to move on vocationally, and some promising opportunities arose. As it turned out, however, several years passed before the right job became available. It was worth the wait – but I hated having to wait just the same.

Probably the greatest “wait” problem of all is waiting on God. We seek to know His will, and want to know what it is – right now. We present prayer requests to God and expect Him to answer on the spot. Someone dear to us, perhaps ourselves, is sick and we ask for healing – immediately.

But unlike weight problems that can diminish our lives, spiritual wait problems we struggle with often serve to enhance our lives. The Scriptures repeatedly speak about the need to wait on the Lord. In fact, at times He insists on it.

One of my favorite psalms, for instance, repeatedly talks about waiting on God: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” (Psalm 37:7). In case the reader missed it the first time, the psalmist reiterates, “Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it” (Psalm 37:34).

A few chapters later we find another admonition to wait on the Lord: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

Here are some similar passages:

“Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:25-26).

“Yet those who hope (wait) in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

When we read passages like these, we nod our heads but our hearts want to complain: “Sure, God, that’s easy for You to say. You’ve got all the time in the world, but I’m tired of waiting. Why don’t You just do something?”

After more than six decades of living, more than half of them as a follower of Jesus, I’ve learned a difficult but enduring lesson: When God says, “Wait,” there’s always a good reason.

Perhaps He’s preparing to prove that like the old TV sitcom, “Father knows best.” You might be asking for the wrong thing, the timing isn’t right, or He has a different and better plan.

Maybe waiting is necessary for you to take the next step in your spiritual journey. As the verse above stated, “Be still, and know that I am God” – and know that you are not.

Or you need something stronger than a nudge to motivate you to exercise your spiritual muscles: “…because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

So if you find yourself in God’s waiting room, don’t think He’s forgotten you, or has become too busy, or doesn’t care. The Lord knows what you want. And even better, He knows what you need – because often what we want and need aren't the same. 

A wait problem can be a good thing.

No Thrill in Waiting

Waiting for a special event to start, like a charity run supporting
a good cause, is tolerable. But we still want to get on with it.

“Wait!”

In today’s society, wait is among our most-hated words. It doesn’t matter whether we’re in a line at the bank, the grocery store, fast-food restaurant, retail store, the gas pump, or the post office. Especially at the post office! We don’t like waiting. “Time’s a-wasting. My life is starting to pass before my eyes!”

No one has time these days for waiting. No wonder the lurching launch of Obamacare, the Affordable Health Care Act, stirred such frustration. If people are supposed to sign up for it, they certainly don’t like having to wait to do so.

FedEx, the Internet, email, text messaging, even the almost-extinct fax machine, all have come about in part because of our reluctance to wait to communicate.

The adage said, “A watched pot never boils.” Today it is “a watched microwave never beeps.” If we’re online and click on a web link, we don’t want to wait for it to appear. We expect it to leap to our screen instantaneously. If we have to download computer software, we wring our hands as we wait for it to finish. So super-fast connection speeds are essential.

And I hardly need to mention the frustration of having to wait in a traffic jam. We’ve all been there and know it too well. Is it a traffic accident, construction, malfunctioning signal? It doesn’t matter. Just don’t make me wait!

Our capacity for waiting in a line for food,
however, depends on how hungry we are - and
what's next on the agenda.

Because of the ever-escalating pace of life, patience and the capacity for waiting have become lost virtues. TV programming and commercials consist of images rapidly changing every few seconds so we don’t lose interest. Theme parks have special express lines for people who don’t appreciate the thrill of waiting 30 minutes or longer for popular rides.

But the fact is, much of life is devoted to waiting, often for good things: Anticipating a happy event, such as a wedding, the birth of a baby, an important ballgame, a birthday or anniversary, or Christmas. Applying for admission to college and waiting hopefully for a letter of acceptance. Interviewing for a job, then awaiting a call back. Having a medical procedure done, especially for a potentially serious problem, and then waiting for the results. If the wait ends with a good report, we consider it worthwhile.

So is it any surprise that God in the Scriptures often asks us to wait? Over the years, in facing a variety of slow-to-resolve issues both at work and at home, I’ve often meditated on Psalm 37. I found it comforting, reassuring – and troublesome – to read, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” (verse 7) and “Wait for the Lord and keep his way…” (verse 34).

King David, who wrote many of the psalms, must have spent a lot of time in God’s “waiting room,” since he also penned passages like “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). When we read something like that, we want to respond, “Yeah, David, that was easy for you to say!”

However, he also made it clear the waiting was not futile, that his trust in the Lord’s timely response was rewarded. That’s why David could write, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:1-2).

Does God have you in His waiting room? Or have you been there recently? I’ve spent much time there myself. Most of the time it’s proved well worth the wait. Is waiting easy? No. Is it fun? Not at all. If we’re willing, when He asks us to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), we can be assured He has a good reason for doing so.