Waiting. No one’s favorite thing to do. We wait in traffic. We wait in lines. We wait at the doctor’s office. Admittedly, some are more patient than others when it comes to waiting.
Last week my husband had an outpatient surgery under anesthesia, so I went along to support him and drive him home. We arrived at 12:30. When we looked at the schedule, his surgery wasn’t until 3:30. I inwardly groaned thinking about having to wait all of that time. I had things with me to do but it was still a lot of time to kill. After the procedure, the doctor came to tell me that all went well but he’d need to stay there for 2 more hours before he could be released. More waiting. When 6:00 rolled around and it was time to leave I was exhausted. Part of that was the stress of the event (my tendency to worry) but a lot of it was the sitting around and waiting.
I heard an illustration recently by Pastor C J Mahaney about waiting that I will loosely paraphrase here. He hates to wait! C J went to a sporting event at a very large venue with a friend. Afterwards there was the inevitable wait to get out of the parking lot. His friend was driving and after a few slick maneuvers they were out of the lot and free. Once they were out his friend broke the news to him that they were going in the wrong direction. C J’s response was “I don’t care—at least we are moving!”
Isn’t it telling that many times we don’t care if we are headed in the wrong direction as long as we are moving?
You’ve likely heard that God always answers our prayers. The answers are “Yes”, “No” or “Wait”. In general we would probably rather be told “No” because then we can head in another direction or try something else. But to wait? No way!
God gives us direction in His Word about waiting:
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Psalm 35:5-7 NIV
“….but 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; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 ESV
I think the reason we struggle with waiting is our fast-paced lives—we have things to do every minute. So we bristle as we are “wasting” time. What would happen if we used our time of waiting as an opportunity? Time in a waiting room could be used to talk to someone who could be going through something very difficult. You could pray for them (or even with them). Time spent in traffic could also be used for prayer. Time spent in a line could be spent in a conversation with someone near you or you could even just offer a smile. A kind word to the cashier (even in your impatience) could lead places you might not imagine, even if they are grumpy!
The scripture passages above are speaking more about waiting on and trusting in the Lord, not necessarily about our time waiting in lines or in waiting rooms. However, the way we spend our time matters to God. Are we glorifying Him in our response to waiting? Our response to waiting in the little things probably mirrors our response to the bigger things.
Lord, help us today to see waiting as opportunities to serve You and trust You. Give us Your wisdom as we seek to glorify You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Have a great day!