Even in our divided age, we can probably all agree that we hate waiting. Our blood pressure rises when the car in front of us still has its break lights on even though the traffic signal turned green four seconds ago. We’d rather lose the top layer of skin in our mouth than wait for our scalding pizza to cool down. A few years back, a New York Times article described waiting in line as a “timeless form of torture.”[1] Idleness can feel like purgatory on earth, so we honk, or bite into the pizza, or maybe even cut in line!
Throughout Scripture, it was during times of waiting that the people of God often found themselves in trouble.
When God’s promise to Abram took longer than he and Sarai expected, they chose to take matters into their own hands. Sarai gave Abram her maidservant, Hagar, and they conceived through her (not according to God’s promise), which resulted in pain for everyone involved (see Gen. 16).
When Moses tarried upon the mountain receiving God’s instruction, the Israelites grew impatient. “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’” (Exod. 32:1). Unwilling to wait, they resorted to idolatry.
When the prophet Samuel told King Saul to wait so that Samuel might offer a sacrifice to the Lord, Saul became restless when Samuel didn’t show up on time. Saul decided to offer the sacrifice himself. Just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived, saying,
“What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
—1 Sam. 13:11-13
Questioning God’s Purposes
The biblical examples of wanton waiting are reminders to remain watchful during times when progress is slow. It’s just when God seems to be tarrying that we’re prone to compromise. We’re tempted to question God’s purpose for our lives during these seasons of waiting. Rather than trust the Lord, we begin to take what’s forbidden or force what shouldn’t be. I’ve seen this in dating relationships. A man or woman is committed to finding a Christian partner until it feels like they’ve waited too long. In swoops the handsome or beautiful co-worker who used to go to church when they were five but doesn’t so much anymore. Could they be the person God has for the longing believer?
In these moments, Satan preys on our restlessness and whispers, “You deserve better than what God gives to you; go ahead.” Of course, Satan’s “better” is always a trap.
Waiting for God’s Best
Despite the devil’s lies, we wait not because God is withholding something good, but because he only gives us his best. Perhaps that best is the fruit of patient trust, cultivated during the winters of waiting. Those winters are cold, but after them is a harvest.
As hard as it was, Abraham should have waited for Sarah to conceive, Saul should have waited for Samuel, and the Israelites should have waited for Moses—but they didn’t. In each case, it was a problem of trust in God. We can relate, whether in our impatient outbursts throughout the day or the deeper doubt in God’s lovingkindness that can plague even mature Christians. The frustrated grasping we do will ultimately end in heartache, but no heartache is beyond God’s healing power.
Thankfully, it isn’t our patient waiting that saves us, but God’s. The apostle Peter writes, “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” (2 Pet. 3:9), and, “Count the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Pet. 3:15). He’s patient when we aren’t and calls us to follow him even when the future seems uncertain.
What are you waiting on God for today? Let patience have her perfect work in your life (James 1:4 KJV), and may God give you the grace to trust in him during this season.
[1]. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/why-waiting-in-line-is-torture.html
