As I write this, I am sitting with my mother-in-law in her private room inside an inpatient hospice facility. She is sleeping. We are waiting. Waiting to see when the Lord will take her home. I am also waiting for my mom to get a pathology report regarding her recent surgery for breast cancer. She is recovering. We are waiting.
Waiting is hard. There's no other way to say it. But I've come to understand that waiting is what we do as children of God. Waiting, in some ways, defines us as Christians. God's people wait. We see waiting throughout the Bible, and we see it in our lives today.
Join me in exploring biblical examples of waiting, why God might have us wait, and what we might learn in the midst of it all.
Biblical Examples of Waiting:
Consider Abraham and Sarah, who waited twenty-five years between hearing God's promise of a child and holding their son (Genesis 12:4;21:5). Jacob waited fourteen years to wed Rachel, the woman he loved, after being tricked into marrying Rachel's sister (Genesis 29:20-35).
The Israelites waited 400 years (Genesis 13:14) to be released from slavery and then had to wander in the desert for 40 more years (Joshua 5:6) before reaching the promised land. In 1 Kings, we see Elijah waiting for rain, we read in 2 Samuel of David waiting to be king, and in Acts, we read about Paul waiting for release from prison. The book of Job shows him waiting for relief as he grieved and suffered.
Christ himself had to wait thirty-plus years for his earthly ministry to begin, all the while knowing what torture awaited him. I Peter 1:12 tells us there are mysteries into which the angels long to look, and so they wait. Romans 8:19 tells us that creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Waiting has been a part of life from the very beginning, and it will be till the very end.
Why Would God Have Us Wait?
We live in a fast-paced, instant-gratification world. We don't like waiting in lines at the store or in traffic any more than we like waiting for the diagnosis, the rejection letter, or for the abuse to stop. But have you ever stopped to think about what could be going on in the waiting?
When we look at the examples above from God's Word, we don't just see examples of His people waiting. We see glimpses of God working in the waiting. We see sanctification happening in His people and His perfect plan unfolding. We see God preparing His people on the inside as well as the outside as they wait for His purposes to come to fruition.
And that's the key. We're ultimately waiting for Him. His timing is perfect, not ours. As we resign ourselves to waiting, we are placing our trust in the only trustworthy One. We are saying, "Come what may, it is well with my soul, because I trust Him." And by God's grace, He doesn't make us wait for the sake of waiting—He allows us to learn and grow in the waiting.
Waiting Teaches Us to Lament:
When the wait becomes frustrating and seemingly unbearable, we're invited to cry out to God in lament, as demonstrated throughout the Bible. In Psalm 13:1, we see David crying out, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?"
Lament bridges the gap between our suffering and God's sovereignty. As we wait and process the difficulties of waiting with Him, we are reminded of His perfect timing and that He can be trusted with the very thing we're waiting for.
Lament gives us the opportunity to process our pain and turn our pain into praise. As we wait, cry out, and trust, our hearts can come full circle from Psalm 13:1 to Psalm 13:5-6, "But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me."
Waiting Teaches Us Patience:
So much about waiting represents the already and the not yet. Take a pregnant mother, for example. She holds her baby in her womb yet longs to hold the baby in her arms. She is a mother, yet she waits to meet her child. Consider an engaged couple. They are promised to one another. In their hearts, forever together has already begun, yet the fullness of their covenant is yet to be realized.
Whether you are waiting for something that will alter a season of your life or your life as a whole, waiting affords us the opportunity to be patient. Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" Waiting on the Lord is our acknowledgment that it's better to wait on God than to get ahead of His will.
In Genesis, we read of Abraham's wife, Sarah, who was initially unable to bear children and gave Abraham her maidservant, Hagar, to conceive an heir. The Lord promised Sarah a child, but she grew impatient when God's timing did not match her own. The consequences of the union between Abraham and Hagar were staggering. Patience is key, and as we grow in it, we can often see more clearly as God's plan unfolds before us.
Waiting Teaches Us to Trust Him More:
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." This sounds overly simplified, but it's a truth we would all benefit from embracing.
When someone encourages you to trust in the Lord in a season of waiting, they're not saying you should trust that God will work out your waiting the way you want Him to. They're encouraging you to trust in His promises, wisdom, power, and love. They're encouraging you to trust in who He is. To trust His character. To trust in His attributes. To trust Him to work out your season of waiting the way He sees fit.
When we move in our own time and take matters into our own hands, we miss the opportunity to see God work on our behalf and see a better outcome. Even if the end of our waiting is not what we expected or wanted, we can rest assured that the end result is for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). He can be trusted.
Waiting Helps Tear Down Our Idols:
Remember the people of Israel? Moses went up to Mount Sinai to meet with the Lord and was gone for longer than the people expected. What did the people do? They grew impatient, and in their restlessness, they turned to Aaron and requested he make them a golden calf. They used the resources God had given them to create a new god rather than building the specified dwelling for God (Exodus 32).
The actions of the Israelites might seem a bit extreme, but we, too, are prone to turning to our idols when we're squeezed by the restlessness that comes with waiting. How we respond to waiting reveals our motives, intentions, and character. It reveals our desires and where or what we turn to for comfort.
Perhaps you're waiting on something that could wreck your self-worth, alter your lifestyle, or steal your comfort. It could be that the very thing you're waiting for is an idol, something that will boost your self-worth, give you financial gain, or give you prestige. When our idols are exposed, we are given the opportunity to put them to death.
Waiting Reveals God's Glory:
One of my favorite examples of waiting for God's glory to be revealed is in the account of Lazarus's death. John 11 describes Mary and Martha calling for Jesus to heal Lazarus, who was ill. Jesus loved Lazarus, yet he waited two more days to go to his side, and by the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus was dead.
We see Mary approaching Jesus and telling him, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." And it's true, Jesus absolutely could have healed Lazarus. So why didn't he? Because he had plans to raise Lazarus from the dead. This miracle would reveal God's glory, bring God's glory, and bring people to faith in a way that simply healing Lazarus wouldn't have.
I often wonder how many times in my life I've missed out on experiencing God's glory being revealed because I didn't wait. How often have I pointed my finger at God and said, "If you had been there, this wouldn't have happened." How many times has God whispered to me, and perhaps to you, "Just wait. I have something better in store."
As I finish writing this article, almost two months after starting it, we have buried my mother-in-law, and I have been accompanying my mom to her daily radiation treatments. And here we are, still waiting. We will wait to see my husband's mother at the great heavenly reunion. We will wait to see if my mom's cancer comes back. Life is about waiting.
This has reminded me to take advantage of the little opportunities, like waiting in line at the store or in traffic, by practicing the art of waiting. I should practice waiting because waiting well is what I want to do. Waiting well is what we should all strive for because life is about waiting.
We also have to remember that the entire history of salvation is one of waiting. We wait as individuals in our everyday lives and we wait as a community of believers for the Lord's return. James 5:7 tells us to "Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains."
As we go about our day, let us practice waiting patiently. Let us wait well.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/EmirMemedovski
Beth Ann Baus is a wife and mother of two adult sons. She is a freelance writer and author of Sister Sunday, My So Much More, and His Power, Our Weakness: Encouragement for the Biblical Counselor. In her writing, Beth often pulls from her own experiences of abuse, anxiety, depression and OCD. Beth has a heart for homeschooling, women’s ministry, and is an ACBC-certified Biblical Counselor. She loves serving alongside her husband and pointing couples to the Word for strengthening their marriages and home life. You can find more from her at www.bethannbaus.com.