There is a song I used to sing at Prayer Meetings as a teen. These are the words:
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength
They shall mount up on wings as eagles
They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint
Teach me Lord, teach me Lord, to wait.
(Isaiah 40:31)
Waiting. Sometimes I think that’s all we do in life. You’d think I’d be good at it by now, but I’m not. I may even be worse at it the longer I live from having to put up with more.
Lately I do a lot of waiting, mostly for dental appointments.
I doubt there is any human on earth who likes to wait, unless the waiting is getting us out of something.
Waiting is a daily part of life. Waiting in grocery store lines. Waiting in traffic jams, waiting for a bus, a plane, an Uber.
Waiting for the chicken to cook. Waiting for the microwave to finish. How many of us stand there getting zapped? (not a good idea btw)
Waiting for vacations. Waiting for holidays, either to begin….or to end! Waiting for……….you get the idea.
Then there’s waiting for the big things like a pregnancy, a baby to arrive (or in my case, babies), waiting for healing of mind, body and soul.
Waiting for things that may or may not happen. Waiting for our eternal reward (no hurry there).
But the kind of waiting that bothers me the most is waiting on other people. Waiting for them to do what they said they were going to do. (pet peeve of mine when they don’t!)
Waiting for the right person to marry, for your little kids to get ready quickly when going out; waiting to graduate, to marry, to retire. Waiting for people to change (not necessarily going to happen).
So with all this exhausting waiting, how do we deal with it? Fret? Worry? Try to force change? Yeah I am guilty of all of those.
But the Bible says trust in God. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
There is so much more God sees that we don’t.
But wait as we might it’s all in God’s good timing not ours.
Our timing is almost never God’s timing. But God’s timing is perfect. In hindsight I see many times where it truly was! I need to remember this when I am experiencing long-suffering.
The Greek word for patience or long-suffering is Makrothumia (out of 2 Greek words meaning “long” and “temper”) which in other words is remaining patient without being provoked to anger. Having a “long fuse” rather than a “short fuse”. Our old nature is short-fused unless we have the fruit of the Holy Spirit, one of which is Patience.
Fortunately, God is long-suffering with us sinners.
St. Monica was patient, never giving up praying years and years for her son to turn his life around. He turned out to be St. Augustine, one of the greats.
Sometimes we have to be patient because God is working on the other person(s) in the scenario. It’s something we often don’t think of. We figure we are ready for something now, but we have to wait until everything falls into place and this frequently involves other people and situations.
I have spent far too much time in my life waiting on other people rather than God.
Is this a sin? Then I am convicting myself. We need to wait on God alone, the author and finisher.
When I woke up and started writing these words that were flowing out of my head, the Donna Reed show from the 1950’s/60’s was on TV. Ironically that episode was about an elderly doctor who was scheduled to retire but really didn’t want to. His wife divulged he was feeling so useless that, “He sits there like a fireman waiting for the telephone to ring.”
Who are we waiting for? Man or God? Do we trust our future to God? Or do we keep waiting in front of a phone or a computer screen for something to happen. For that visit, that call, that text, that next “like” on social media.
Most likely nothing will happen if we do nothing. If I want to write a Substack article but never get around to doing it, it isn’t going to write itself.
Sometimes we sit there waiting when we should be moving on, or taking action. God will take care of us while we wait.
And keep in mind, sometimes waiting is not necessarily passivity either. Sometimes it’s an important part of the process.
A good prayer to start each day:
In the morning let me hear of your mercy, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for I entrust my life to you.” (Psalm 143:8)
So stop waiting and get on with life. God is in control. Trust in Him and put everything in His hands. He will answer your prayers in His timing.
And so the song continues:
“Help me not to rely on what others do, but to wait dear Lord for the answer from you.”
