What keeps us waiting daily? Because waiting makes up a considerable part of our daily lives, any delay or hold-up thwarts our well-laid plans. If waiting is so unpleasant, why does Lamentations 3:25 say that “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” In Scripture, waiting in the Lord is inseparable from being silent, still, and hopeful in the Lord.
“in his word I hope, my hope is in him, I will hope in him” (Psalms 130:5, 39:7, Isaiah 8:17 – God wants us to put our hope in what Jesus has accomplished on the cross for us, His written Word, and Him! This hope is evidenced by our patient waiting. In turn, God inclines Himself to those who wait patiently for Him (Psalm 40:1). He hears their cries and their pleas. I have not met anyone patient in waiting to be without any hope. A person who loses hope in the waiting process gives up waiting and leaves.
“wait in silence” (Psalm 62:5) – This does not refer to verbal silence only. God wants us to be peaceful, quiet, and assured in our spirit. We stop fretting over what is and will be. Our defeating thoughts and emotions shall not overtake us. We neither stir up arguments, complain, vent, nor fight with others for our gain. Instead, it is a resignation to God’s will, whatever it may be. It is an expectancy of deliverance from the Lord.
“be still before the Lord” (Psalm 37:7) – God wants us to stop striving by our efforts and depend on His grace alone. There is power in being still in the Lord as we wait upon Him to move on our behalf. We stop being preoccupied with what we can do and must do to achieve the results. Instead, we free ourselves from our self-reliance and surrender ourselves and everything to God. When we are still, we can begin to recognise the things that God is doing before our very eyes (1 Samuel 12:16). How liberating is that!
Waiting also teaches us that God’s timing is not ours. He moves in His sovereign and divine will, not ours. Instead, we learn to trust in God’s season and timing for us. Our lives are not our own. 2 Peter 3:9 says that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” His delay doesn’t necessarily mean denial. In God’s patience towards us, He also uses that time of waiting to change and transform us. Job 6:24 says, “Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.” When we wait in silence, stillness, and hope, it becomes clearer to recognise our sins and flaws. Waiting in humility shifts our pleas from what we desire for God to do for us, to seeking God for our need for transformation.
While there is a time to wait, the time will come when the waiting is over, and we will welcome what comes next. Whatever you may be waiting for presently, I pray that this season of waiting in your life will not be in vain.
