Why Wait?!

“Wait” is one of my least favorite words. While I give every appearance of being patient and “laid back” on the outside, inside of my head the hard drive is spinning full speed all the time. (It doesn’t even slow down when I’m asleep.) It can be frustrating to encounter the common “hurry-up-and-wait” process and attitude in our culture.  I don’t like to wait (especially when it doesn’t seem to be necessary)!

At the same time, the word “wait” has a very important meaning in Scripture. In fact, the fine art of waiting can be a vital key to our spiritual growth and health. Let me give you some examples from the Old Testament:

·         When confronted with a question concerning the law, Moses responded, “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you” (Numbers 9:8).

·         During his many trials Job confessed, “I will wait for my renewal to come” (Job 14:14).

·         Waiting was David’s daily discipline. “In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3).

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

·         Then there are these words from David: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).

·         Why? “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield” (Psalm 33:20).

·         Here are more confessions from the psalmist: “Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God” (Psalm 38:15), “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1), “I wait for your salvation, Lord, and I follow your commands” (Psalm 119:166), and “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope” (Psalm 130:5).

·         On the other hand, some grew impatient and did not wait for the Lord. “But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold” (Psalm 106:13).

·         “Wisdom” promises, “Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway” (Proverbs 8:34).

·         The prophet Isaiah had a special understanding of the need to wait: “I will wait for the Lord” (8:17), “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you” (26:8), “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him” (30:18) and “No one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (64:4).

·         And then there’s my favorite from Isaiah: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31 KJV).

When I compared the classic King James translation of Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the Lord,” with the NIV, “but those who hope in the Lord,” I looked up the word translated “wait,” and sure enough, it is also the word translated “hope.” You see waiting on the Lord is not just a passive, “I hope so” kind of waiting. It is a joyful, expectant waiting. Why? Because it is the Lord we are waiting for. And for the Lord, and all those who are waiting for him, the best is yet to come. We see the same language used by the prophet Jeremiah when he was mourning the destruction of the city of Jerusalem: “I say to myself, The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. 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 3:24-26).

Those who are waiting for the Lord are not part of some desperate “white knuckle” club, but rather are those who have learned that true dependence on and intimacy with God always has a good result. It’s important to admit that difficulty waiting can just be a sinful need to be in control.

I’ve had a recent example of this “waiting” thing in my personal family. On March 27 my brother received a scary lab report. His dermatologist had removed a spot on his arm and gave a report of “melanoma.” Because it was a fairly deep spot they scheduled surgery for April 4 to remove a larger area of his arm and the closest lymph nodes. If the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes, then chemo, etc., etc. And then the wait…and the wait…and the wait. The lab report was to have come in on Monday, April 8. Nothing. Then on Tuesday. Nothing. And even as I was writing this article I received this text: “Just heard! All lymph nodes clean!! No cancer there. No cancer in the additional skin tissue! A true miracle! What an amazing God….” Waiting for the medical team can be frustrating. Waiting for the lab report can be filled with anxiety. But waiting for the Lord?! With God, truly the best is always yet to come!