Waiting. We can do it a lot in our lifetimes, can’t we?

We wait in the airport, we wait for a cab. We wait in the doctor’s office, we wait for the test results.

We wait for the policeman behind us to finish writing our speeding tickets, we wait for our apartment application to be approved.

We wait for the bank to say yes to our loan, we wait for the credit card bill to come in the mail.

We wait for the good news; we wait for the bad….

We wait for our spouses to come home from work; we wait for our spouses to come home from war.

We wait for the answers that we know God will provide.

We wait.

We are not a wait-loving kind of people, are we? We weave in and out of traffic, disgusted at the car in front of us who insists on going the exact speed limit instead of five-miles an hour over which everyone knows is the acceptable and expected thing to do (and if you live in Nashville, it’s at least 20 miles over!)

We hate waiting so much that instead of going to the bank to do our business, we just jump online to deposit or transfer our funds. Instead of sitting down at a table in a restaurant, we can just as easily order online or call ahead and pick it up. We don’t like waiting to check our email at home so we’ve gone one step further and can now check it on our phones. We don’t like leaving voicemails and waiting for someone to call us back so now we can just text them what we need and often get an almost instant response. Why wait if you don’t have to?

There are some great examples of people who waited in the Bible. Hannah, and Abraham and Sara each waited for the arrival of a longed-for child. Joseph waited in jail. David waited in a cave while on the run from Saul. Moses waited with the Israelites in the desert. So much waiting. So much time wasted.

Or was it?

I realize it may be wierd starting a new series in the middle of the week, but I think the topic of waiting and what we can learn from waiting is an important one, something that can benefit each of us wherever we are in life.

The Hard Part of Waiting

Of course, waiting isn’t usually easy. Waiting indicates an anticipation , an expectation for something. Maybe it’s a paycheck, maybe it’s news you need to hear, maybe it’s waiting for rest. Whatever it is, the anticipation can drive you crazy.

But I don’t think God allows waiting to happen just to mess with our heads. I think there are some specific things He uses waiting for, to teach us and to enrich us, to grow us in our faith.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll talk about some of the treasures we can glean from waiting.

But for today, I’ll leave you with this question: what’s the hardest part of waiting for you?

Related posts:

  1. Waiting on the Thing
  2. Waiting on the Thing
  3. The Treasure of Hope
  4. The Treasure of Focus
  5. Look for the Manna