Let's be honest most of us don't like waiting. We don't like waiting to hear if we got the house. We don't like waiting to hear if we will be chosen for that big promotion that we are up for. We don't like waiting in line to just get into Costco. We don't like waiting in line for hours on end to ride our favorite ride at Disneyland. After 8 months of pregnancy, a mom is done waiting for that baby to come. And now in the midst of this Coronavirus situation, we don't like waiting to get life back to some semblance of normal or at least what will be the new normal.
But have you ever stopped to ask yourself this question: why do I hate waiting so much?
I think one reason is we like to think we are in control and when we are forced to wait, we feel like control is slipping out of our fingertips. Let's be honest, when we feel like we are not in control, we feel like we are standing on unsettled ground.
I think another reason is that waiting disrupts our rhythms. We like to have a rhythm of life. Most of us have cadences and rhythms that help us get through the week and keep us calm and rationale in the midst of all that life throws our way. We have the things we like to do on Monday mornings and Friday evenings even Sunday mornings. We like to live in those rhythms and yet anything that would disrupt that makes us feel like something is wrong with the world.
Waiting can also get in the way of our agenda. I think of any trip that I have ever had to Disneyland. I didn't show up to Disneyland saying that my agenda for the day was to spend 2 ½ hours in line to ride Space Mountain. No one does that. We may know that's a reality that we have to live with, but if you are anything like me you show up to Disneyland hoping to ride as many rides as humanly possible during those precious hours you are there. In those 2 ½ hours you wanted to ride Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and if you are lucky squeeze in a trip around the world riding It's a Small World. And yet there you are spending all that time in line to ride one ride. The same thing happens with grocery store lines. You had all of these things that you want to do but here you are 6 deep in the grocery story line with only 2 out of 10 lines open.
My guess is, if we tried, we could come up 5 more reasons we don't like waiting without even trying too hard. And yet here is what we hear from Psalm 27:14:
Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
We are called to wait for the Lord. We don't like to wait. We know what we want, and we want it now! We pray for our friend to be cured of cancer and want it done instantly. We pray for a clear direction for this upcoming season of life and want it before we say amen. We want that problem that we are struggling with to be dealt with by the time we open our eyes or unfold our hands. And yet life and faith and God don't always work that way. And so, David in Psalm 27 calls us to wait for the Lord in strength and courage.
Here is what I think we will find. In the waiting, God helps to grow our faith as He helps us to realize our dependence upon Him. In the waiting, God grows our faith as He reveals to us His character. In the waiting, we see His love, His grace, and yes even His faithfulness. In the waiting, God reveals to us the patterns in our life that needed disrupting. Maybe there were some things that were unhealthy and leading us to turn inward rather than turning to God. Maybe there were some things in our life that we distracting us from what is really important. In the waiting, God reminds us that God is God and that we are not. And just in case you are wondering that is a good thing. But I have also often found that God uses these times of waiting to help shape our agenda to His agenda for us. One other thing, I think we see in the waiting, life isn't just about the destination, it's about the journey. It's in the waiting that we begin to realize that God is walking this journey of faith with us and that every moment of that journey is necessary, and a part of what God is doing in us and through us.
We are definitely in a waiting pattern right now. Life in some way seems to be on hold as we shelter in place. But this doesn't mean that God is absent or not working. In many ways, I believe it is in times of waiting like this that God does some of His greatest work. Here is the question that I would like to invite you to ponder today and in the coming days: what work is God doing in you through this time of waiting?
May God richly bless you as together we wait for the Lord. May the Holy Spirit fill us with His strength and give us courage to face everything that we are facing today, tomorrow, and always. Wait for the Lord! He's worth the wait!
