Who is the most patient person you know? Think now of that person who just allows the
Holy Spirit to ooze His fruit of longsuffering through him/her so much that it
makes your heart ache just thinking about how long he/she has waited. I’ve read stories of incredible people who
have done some mind-bending waiting.
Those who have waited for deliverance, a prodigal child’s return, a
spouse who left the marriage, the salvation of a loved one, a godly spouse, a
physical healing, and the list goes on and on.
If you are like me, most of the time you read a story like that and are
in awe. Then you sit back and think one
of two things: 1) If I was them, I could never have waited that long, or 2)
Please God, don’t have me wait that long!
It’s pretty pathetic that we see waiting as such a negative thing. Most
of us approach that word with trepidation and dread. I’m guilty all too often.
However, no matter who the winner of the waiting game is in
your mind, there is only one winner…the Author of the Bible. It’s not a scientific deduction; plain and
simple, our Heavenly Father wins. As we
complain, whine, or sigh that He is having us wait “again,” have we ever
stopped to think about all the sacrifices He makes in waiting for His people--for
you, for me? If there is anyone who
could and should have instant gratification, it’s the Creator of the
Universe! He is a wiser God than we can
fathom, and He understands the importance of waiting. We make so much about faith being about
us. We think everything God gives us in
a certain day is a lesson for us. Now,
mind you, I am NOT saying that He doesn’t teach us daily or that we shouldn’t
have a teachable heart. Being teachable is one of the greatest gifts we can
give God. However, I am saying that when
it comes to our faith, we all too quickly think of ourselves first, and not
about His ultimate purpose: God receiving all the glory! Our hardships, trials,
sufferings, and periods of waiting may not even be about us! Of course, if we are moldable clay, then
these times of stretching will indeed shape and sanctify us; but they are not
always about us or the lessons we need to learn. We may never know why God allows “the wait”
in our lives until we are face-to face with Him. Some of His purposes for our waiting may be
revealed on this earth in due time. But the fullness of His plan, the evidence
of His glory, and the people whose lives were affected cannot fully be known
until we see it through the eyes of our omniscient, Sovereign Ruler.
God isn’t just waiting for us to “get a clue.” He could give
us that clue anytime He wanted! Envision
this… He CHOOSES to wait, every single minute, in thousands of ways, in
millions of lives. Why? Why doesn’t He just do something?! For
starters, He isn’t anything like man. He
understands the power of His glory and what must take place in every nation, in
every city, in every family, and in every life, so that His plan reaches its
ultimate climax (His Glory perfected in the lives of weak human beings, who choose
to embrace that weakness, and depend on the greatness of the one True God). After all, isn’t that our created
purpose? Oh, that we would lift up our
hands and rejoice in the wait! Whether
we see its fruit upon this earth, or whether it’s for generations yet to come,
His glory may not involve us getting to know the fullness of our wait.
Charles Spurgeon was noted for saying this on the importance
of waiting~
“If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait,
let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him.
He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries
faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it
comes. The Lord’s people have always been a waiting people.” 1
Sometimes we get the blessing after the wait, but sometimes the
blessing belongs to another. Is the wait
worth the sacrifice to you to bless the next generation, if you never see the
full fruit on this earth? Or, to know that you honored God in the wait, despite
the lack of reward you received? These
are not easy questions. It pains me to
ask them in my own life. For that is
just the thing; waiting will not be without its difficulties and
sufferings. Waiting will be full of
tears, of wondering, and of questions.
And our groom, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father understand each and
every one of those. Yet, know it
produces dependency…the need for “not I, but Christ in me” doing the waiting
(Gal 5:5). When all is said and done, “who” really did the waiting? We certainly cannot wait with purpose in our
strength. It must come from the Author
of waiting, the one who wins the waiting game every time…the Triune God. All in all, we really aren’t doing the
waiting, for waiting goes against everything we want and desire here on
earth. If we had the ability to change
things in our own lives, I highly doubt we would choose waiting like Jesus
Christ and our Heavenly Father did throughout history and continue to daily. Choosing
a greater purpose… the glory of what is yet to come…the final pieces to His
master plan and destiny of all created things…the complete picture of the God
who was, and is, and is to come (Rev. 4:8).
We are a “waiting people” because we serve a waiting God. If you need evidence, you won’t have to look
far. Each book of the Bible is chalk
full of His merciful waiting. From accounts like Moses and His wandering Hebrew
people; David, in his sinful choices, as He groomed in him a heart like His;
Ruth, as she trusted not in her own peoples’ false gods, but in the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Peter, as he denied the Son of God, only later to be
the rock on which the Church is built; or Saul, the chief murderer of
Christians to become Paul, one of greatest apostles the Church will ever
know. The Alpha and Omega shows His
longsuffering from beginning to end. It
is done in such a way that makes our hearts ache, our jaws drop, and Lord
willing, our knees bend in praise and gratitude that a LORD like this would
wait, so He could choose us for a small piece of giving Him back His
glory. What an honor it should be to
wait on a God like this!
Isaiah 26:8-9
8 “Indeed, while
following the way of Your judgments, O Lord,
We have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. 9 At night
my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For
when the earth experiences Your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn
righteousness.”
Hosea 12:6
“Therefore, return to
your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.”
1 "Charles Spurgeon Waiting Quotes", What Christians Want To Know http;//www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/25-great-waiting-quotes
Scripture taken from the New
American Standard Bible, © Copyright
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman
Foundation. Used by permission
