I was sitting in my car in our driveway, waiting for my teenage daughter. After several minutes, I became impatient and tapped the horn a few times to get her attention. Eventually, she sauntered through the door, not caring at all that she was about to be tardy for her first class of the day.
“What took you so long?!” I said with irritation in my voice. Without giving her a chance to respond, I added, “I feel like I’m always waiting for you!”
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I felt convicted. Instead of getting upset, I should have kept my emotions under control. During the silent drive to school, I thought about how waiting is part of life and how it’s also often God’s divine plan.
We tend to view the act of waiting as a big negative. Who enjoys standing in a long line at the grocery store? Who actually gets excited to be stuck in traffic on Friday after a long day of work? In our fast-paced, immediate gratification society, waiting isn’t something that’s valued. In fact, we usually try to avoid it at all costs.
But the Bible speaks very differently about this topic:
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:14).
“The Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help” (Is. 30:18 NLT).
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lam. 3:25 ESV).
Our church recently completed a 21-day fast, and I’m still waiting for God’s direction on several of my personal prayer requests. Some days I struggle with discouragement because God’s answers aren’t clear. During those moments, I have to change my focus from frustration to faith. The Lord is at work in my circumstances, even if I can’t see what he’s doing. My loving heavenly Father is ordering my steps, and he will show me the way to go when the time is right.
Does God have you in a season of waiting? If so, immerse yourself in his Word. Recite verses such as the ones above to keep you from falling into despair. Consider how the Lord wants you to handle unexpected and unwanted delays when they occur in your life.
“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Is. 40:31 NKJV).
God promises to give us endurance, hope, strength, and perseverance as we wait on him. He promises VICTORY!
So, if you think about it, waiting isn’t such a bad thing after all. It’s a blessing in disguise—an opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with the One who loves you most.
