Waiting Well

Is. 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

To wait is to be human.  What is it you are waiting for?  Medical test results, academic test results, decisions made by other people, lost loved ones to respond to your many Gospel pleadings, federal tax return… waiting is what we do.  Waiting stinks.  Waiting hurts.

If we knew what the test score would be, waiting wouldn’t be so bad.  Would it?  It’s the not knowing that bothers us so much.  But, God knows.  He saw the score before the test was taken.  He knows what bills you will pay with 2012’s tax return.  Not only does he know, but His plan is intimately woven into those things we wait for, and each of them develops into our ultimate good.  He will be gracious, He will be compassionate, and He will be just.  We will wait. 

Five years ago I wanted to be an active duty Air Force Chaplain so badly I could taste it.  I knew that no other career would satisfy my hunger for purpose, duty, and ministry.  The only problem was I was wrong.  God used the messenger of military bureaucracy to communicate His plans to me.  The message was, “Wait.  Serve in another capacity until your résumé is beefy enough to get the job.”  The part of the message I didn’t get at that time was, that in waiting I would learn that I don’t really want the active duty Chaplain gig.  My passions don’t match what that job requires.  So, my path took a different turn than I expected, but it was the one God was waiting for me to grow into all along.  How blessed I am to have waited!

This verse becomes even more powerful when placed back into its context.  Isaiah 30:8-17 paints a picture of a rebellious nation, “children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord” (vs:9).  Sometimes the reason God waits to pour out His blessings is simply for our maturation, like in James 1:2-3.  Other times, like in this text, He waits for the purpose of our obedience.  You may be in one place or the other.  The thrilling part of this is, if you are His child, whatever the reason for His delay, what waits on the other side is God’s manifold blessing.  Not only that, but He is longing for the day when that blessing will be revealed!

Imagine that, the God with an inexhaustible storehouse of blessings gets butterflies in His stomach (not that He actually has a stomach) when He thinks of the day He opens that storehouse for you.  In your waiting, by all means, examine yourself to see if there is some sin or immaturity blocking God’s blessing.  But, don’t lose sight of God’s longing for you, his eager anticipation of what He will unfold in your life.

You will wait.  That is a guarantee.  Wait well for the God who delights to show you compassion.  Not as some distant benefactor, but as a Father who delights in his child’s embrace.  You will wait (and wait some more), He will give, you will be blessed.  This is the rhythm of life.  God invites us to dance to it well.  Blessed are all who wait for Him!