What is it about waiting that drives us all crazy? Waiting means we can’t get what we want when we want it.  Waiting means we have to put patience into gear.  None of us like to do that!  We have so many things we use so that we don’t have to wait.  The microwave oven or the Instant Pot will have our dinner done in minutes.  The internet gives us information after the push of a button.  We don’t even have to watch the opening credits of a movie because we have fast forward.  We hate to wait, but God calls us to wait over and over in the Scriptures.  Does this mean he’s not in the 21^st century?  Is he not aware that we don’t like to wait?  What really does he want from us in asking us to wait?  Let’s take a few moments and look at some of the Scriptures which contain the “wait” aspect.

  “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” Psalm 27:14

As we present our requests to God in prayer, we should be anticipating his involvement in the request, always looking for his answers.  However, we get impatient and may even begin to try to solve issues ourselves, rather than waiting on the Lord.  This verse tells us there is a result from waiting – strength and courage.  As we wait on the Lord, our dependency and trust in him will grow, which results in strength and courage to endure.  The waiting on the Lord is not a time of passivity, but one of involvement in trusting the character of God.

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” Psalm 37:7a

Waiting is hard enough, but now the Scripture adds to “be still.” Why is being still so hard?  We only do it when it’s convenient for us, like when we are in front of the TV, or reading a book, or sleeping. The struggle to be still is real and affects us all, not just children.  We have to utilize our self-control in order to be still.  It can be so hard to be still as we listen to a sermon, and yet we can spend the rest of the afternoon on the couch playing video games.  We are very picky about when we are still, aren’t we?  Rather than thinking about our bodies moving, we need to think about our minds.  Our minds need to be still and rest in God’s work in the situation we’ve brought before him.  The racing mind of “what ifs” needs to be still and wait patiently for the Lord to work.

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” Psalm 62:5

Now we’re told to wait in silence, really?  I can’t even complain about having to wait.  It’s easy to complain about being in line at Burger King longer than five minutes because fast food should be fast!  We are not to complain about waiting on the Lord.  The Lord’s time table is different than ours.  He knows best and acts for our best interest.  We can trust him and need to remind ourselves that he is our hope.  Our hope doesn’t disappoint us (Romans 5:5).  The hope we have in the Lord is confidence that he is always working on our behalf.  We can really quiet ourselves and wait on the Lord because this is our hope.

It’s so true about waiting none of us like it, yet all of us are called to do it.  There must be something good about waiting.  In these three verses, we found out that waiting can lead to strength, courage, calmness, trusting, and hope.   So how do we combat the urge to give into impatience?  Once again, we use the Scriptures to give us the answer.

“Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations.  I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

We need to surrender our will to God’s will.  We need to surrender what we consider our rights and follow God.  He is God!  We are not!  The idea that most of us live with is that we deserve this or that, but the truth is, we don’t deserve anything but hell.  God, in his mercy and grace, has seen fit to rescue people to call his own.  As a follower of Christ, you are one of those people.  Our recognition of God and his position is key to our being able to wait.  We are called to be still and KNOW that he is God.  This is an intimate knowledge of who God is and what that means to each of us.  The stillness and the waiting will happen when we focus on knowing God for who he is.  We are not to make him in our image, but we are made in his.  He is the creator, sustainer, and deliverer.  The more we know him, the easier it is to wait on him.

As you wait for your Instant Pot to cook your chicken breast, thank God for always hearing your prayers and acting in his time.  The chicken will taste better, guaranteed!