I’ve often wondered how much of life is spent waiting – for my coffee to perk (serious stuff, that caffeine), for red lights to turn green, in line at the grocery or the movies, for slow drivers to get out of the left lane, (yes, I sheepishly admit, I’m one of those drivers). How many hours have been spent in waiting rooms at hospitals, doctors’ or dentist’s offices? What about the hours or days that have been spent waiting for the phone to ring to learn of a diagnosis or the well-being of a friend or loved one?

How many hours, days or years have you waited for a prayer to be answered?…or just for a whisper from God?

Waiting isn’t one of my strengths; I don’t enjoy it and generally need to employ some self-talk or prayer to endure it with any amount of grace. I like action  – let’s move, move, move, people! (did you hear a clap-clap?) I mean, seriously – what is gained from the waiting? Well, more seriously, if you wait politely, you get your turn or the light turns green or the slow driver moves over and those around you won’t believe you are a jerk, right? Because they won’t see what was going on in your heart while you were steaming internally behind them…oh, sorry! I was referring to me!

The older I become, and I’m getting as old as dirt, the more I realize that waiting is a huge part of God’s plan; it is all over Scripture! I must have rushed over that word when I was younger, or perhaps I assumed it simply applied to them (as in Bible them), and not me, surely not me. Didn’t God make me to be an action person? Yes, which is why I require more prayer and discipline in this area!

In Genesis 49:18, Jacob had called his sons together to give them a heads up about their lives after he was gone.  It wasn’t all peachy.  So, he had just told Dan some bad news when he suddenly throws in, “I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!” Jacob was an old man; I’d venture he had been waiting for God’s salvation for quite a while. We sometimes think waiting 15 minutes is too long to wait on God.

Jacob waited a lifetime.

David wrote in Psalm 25:5, “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of  my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” 

Whoa.  What?!  David waited all day! (Kidding; David waited years before he realized the promise to become king.)

In Psalm 40:1-3, David wrote, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

Unbelievable. David not only waited, but waited patiently for God to bring him out of a horrible pit. And then David had a beautiful new song of praise put into his heart so that others would see and learn to trust the Lord. I wonder what your horrible pit is right now…are you waiting on God to bring you out of it? Will He be allowed to put a new song into your heart as a result?

A couple of my favorite verses in Scripture concerning this topic are found right next door to each other in Isaiah 25:9 and Isaiah 26:8.

And it will be said in that day: Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us; This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.

Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for you; the desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You. 

If you noticed, oftentimes, waiting on God results in gladness, rejoicing or praise. I’m convinced the type of waiting these scriptures refer to can only occur in a heart that trusts – ‘You are the God of  my salvation; He inclined to me, He heard my cry; He brought me out of a horrible pit; this is our God, He will save us; we will rejoice in His salvation.’

How long have you been waiting for Him to move in your life? In a situation or a loved one’s life? Can you be secure in the knowledge that He will pull you out of your pit?

In this season of Lent, of waiting for Him, is He the desire of your soul? Do you want Him to be?

He is waiting for you.