Sunday, January 5, 2014

Carrying Extra Wait

Have you ever considered how much of our life is spent waiting? We wait for computer downloads, traffic lights, elevators, microwaves, home pregnancy test dots, packages in the mail, books in a series, tables at restaurants, doctors, pottying dogs, Fridays, rides at Six Flags, test results, kids at practices, toast, company, vacation, Christmas, and on and on. I have heard it said that a person can expect to spend three years of her life waiting over a 70-year lifespan. Waiting can be maddening for horn-honking, microwaving, overnight-mailing, fast food-eating, express line-shopping us!
        That said, how do we respond when we have to wait for God because, sometimes, that is in fact what He calls us to do? Our timing is not necessarily God’s timing. We cry out to Him and He responds, but not the way we thought He would or hoped He would. Calendar pages stack up at our feet. We throw a hissy fit and tell God what He needs to do for us, right now, and He gently ushers us over to His time-out chair. “Wait here.” “Ain’t nobody got time for this,” we mutter. It is at this point, when we are tempted to give up on God and go it alone, that we need to remind ourselves of Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” God keeps His promises! He is faithful! He is working in us and on us while we wait for Him! It should come as no surprise to us that the Hebrew words for “waiting” and “faith” are sometimes used interchangeably in the Bible.
        Take a look at the following passages of Scripture and see what they have to say about how we are to wait and what we should do while waiting: Psalm 22:1-5; Psalm 37:7; Romans 8:23-25; Isaiah 26:3; and Philippians 1:6.


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.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in Him.
- Psalm 40:1-3

By Sue Busler

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