Nobody Likes To Wait

Nobody Likes to Wait

Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act.

Psalm 37:7

I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1

The Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Romans 15:4

We don’t like to wait—not at traffic lights or in checkout lines or at bus stops. It is even harder to wait for someone who is far away to return home, for the money you need to pay the bills, for someone you love to come to faith, or for a loved one with a serious illness to be healed. Waiting on the Lord to act or to provide or to heal is hard. But waiting has a purpose. Waiting on God reminds us of how much we depend on him, and that’s a good thing to be reminded of.

Think about all the people in the Bible who had to wait—Abraham and Sarah waiting for a child, Joseph waiting to be released from prison, the children of Israel waiting in the desert to enter the Promised Land, the Jewish people waiting for their Messiah to come.

When we’re impatient and refuse to wait, it is actually a form of unbelief. By rushing to take things into our own hands, we’re saying that we don’t believe in God’s timing or his guidance or his ability to provide the right opportunities.

But when we learn to wait patiently on God, he does something important inside our souls. Waiting teaches us dependence on God’s promises. We confront the temptation to not wait by reminding ourselves of these promises. They convince our hearts that God’s timing and guidance and power are enough to take this frustrated, boxed-in, unproductive situation and make something eternally valuable out of it. God is not trying to make us miserable when he makes us wait. He’s working in us to make us holy, which will make us happy.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

When do you find it especially difficult to wait?

What good things can come from the process and time of waiting on God?

What are you waiting for now? What will it mean to wait patiently on God in this situation?