Waiting...the word we all disdain...I have never met anyone who loves to wait. When is the last time you got excited that there was a long line at the food store? Did you ever shout "Yes!" when you sat in bumper to bumper traffic? Is the waiting room at your doctor's office your most favorite place to be? If so, I would like to meet you and ask you a few questions...as for me, I don't like to wait!

Waiting requires patience. Patience is not one of my spiritual gifts. As a matter of fact patience isn't even something that I like to pretend that I have, but through the years, God has been working on my ability to wait.

Waiting produces all kinds of good things. In America I think we tend to view waiting as passive. We think that nothing is happening when we wait...but God's word says differently.

"Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men fall in exhaustion. But those who wait in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:29-31

Well, I certainly am not a youth anymore, and God says that even they will get tired in their own strength.When I wait "in the Lord" however, I am waiting on Him for a result. Waiting for God to work in a situation is waiting for His answer. Waiting for him to work in a situation is always a good thing. Whatever that answer may be (we do not get to have a say in His will) we wait until it comes. The good news is that if we are waiting for an answer from God, we at least have begun a true relationship with Him, because waiting is the last thing that we would do by nature.

 God's timing is a bit different than ours...He has all of the time in eternity in which to work. We function within the confines of linear time, moving from birth to death in an unstoppable stream of unfolding events. In a grander sense, we are waiting to perish. Now I am not trying to be "Debbie Downer" here...but without Christ, that is exactly what is happening. Our earthly bodies begin to decay from the moment they enter the world.

Psalm 40:1-3 says: "I waited patiently for the Lord to help me and He turned and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair...He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." Yet soon after, Psalm 69:3 it says: "I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping waiting for God to help me." The difference between these two scriptures isn't the reaction of God...it's the reaction of the man. The first man was waiting "patiently" ("ugh I am horrible at patiently" you are thinking). So am I. The second man exhausted himself crying until his throat was dry and his eyes were swollen, but further down in this Psalm (verse 13) we read: " But I keep praying to you Lord, hoping this time you will show me favor. In your unfailing love O lord, answer my prayer with your sure salvation". No matter how it "feels" while we are waiting, we wouldn't wait if we didn't expect an answer. God always answers us. Sometimes it takes longer than we might like, but His word states that waiting for him is a blessing to us. "For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help." - Isaiah 30:18

The prophet Micah says in chapter seven, verse seven: "As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me."  And even Habakkuk says in chapter three, verse 16: " I will wait quietly for the coming day  when disaster will strike the people who invade us". ...(even though Judah was invaded and held captive a the time in verse 18 Habakkuk rejoices and sings to the Lord calling God his "strength"!).

Romans 8:19 says: "For all creation is waiting for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are." I believe that we who wait for Him, are His children.

I know that waiting is contrary to our fallen nature, but it is paramount to our maturity in Christ. The mere knowledge of God's perfect Holy character and compassionate merciful love should be enough to prompt us to wait. The most important thing that happens when we wait is that we show faith in God and display the hope that faith produces...and hope will not disappoint us!

"We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know God dearly loves us, because he has given us the Holy spirit to fill our hearts with His love." - Romans 5:3-5

Waiting is most assuredly not fun...most likely not any one's first choice...but most definitely a necessary discipline for those who live on this earth and wait for their eternal destiny with the Lord