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My husband had a procedure done earlier this week, so I had to wait in the waiting room while it was being done. I have spent more time than I care to recall in waiting rooms and I often joke that I earned my master’s degree there. I am only half kidding when I say that. I wrote many research papers while waiting with my first husband – waiting during surgery, waiting during doctor’s visits, waiting in the ER. Doing something else made the time go by faster and kept my mind from wandering to the worst possible scenario.
I am usually a very patient person. I don’t mind waiting at the hospital or in long lines or for my food at arrive at a restaurant. But waiting on God is a different story. I am very impatient with God. I expect him to move and to do things in my time, and I don’t want to have to wait for answers from him. I think this is because I have a tendency to put life on hold while waiting for God. I let the fear of making a wrong decision paralyze me from doing anything.
There is no question that there will be times when we have to wait on God. God does not work in our timeframe, but rather in his. The good news for us is that his timing is always perfect. The question we should be asking ourselves is what are we doing while we are waiting. While waiting in the waiting room, I stayed busy. I think that is also the key while we are waiting on God. In the book of Acts, the disciples devoted themselves to prayer when they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to arrive. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul warns those believers who had become lazy and quit working while waiting for the Lord’s return. I think we need to do these things while we are waiting for God in our lives too. We should continue to work. We need to keep gathering together and encouraging each other. We should always be praying and seeking him.
“The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25