When I Have to Wait

Devotional

Nobody likes waiting. You already know this.

You know it in the back seat when the drive takes forever. You know it in February when summer feels like it's never coming. You know it when you ask for something and get "not yet."

Waiting makes your whole body itchy.

And here's what makes it worse. You can't speed it up.

You can tap your foot. You can ask again. You can ask a third time. It does not arrive one second sooner.

That's the part that really gets you. Waiting reminds you that you're not in charge of time.

But God is. And the Bible doesn't treat waiting like a punishment. It treats it like a place where something happens.

Listen to this one:

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock... He put a new song in my mouth."

Watch the order.

First the waiting. Then the rescue. Then the song.

The song came after. But it wouldn't have been that song without the waiting.

And look where he was stuck. A pit. A muddy bog. That's not a small annoyance, that's real trouble.

And when God finally moved, he didn't just yank him out. He put his feet on a rock.

God wasn't in a hurry. But when it came, it was solid.

So why does God let us wait?

Not because he forgot. Waiting teaches your heart to lean on him instead of on the thing you're waiting for.

And when you wait and he shows up, you learn something you couldn't have learned any other way. He's faithful.

Jesus knew about waiting. He waited thirty years before he started his ministry. Thirty. Growing up in a small town, doing regular work, being quietly obedient.

God's timing wasn't late. It was exact.

Here's a picture to hold onto while you wait:

"They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary."

Waiting on God doesn't drain you. It fills you.

Not with the thing you wanted. With strength you didn't have before.

And notice how the psalm says it: "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!"

He says wait twice. Like he knows you're about to give up.

So keep waiting.

Not because waiting is fun.

Because the one you're waiting on has never once been late.