Worth the Wait
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!"
Psalm 37:7
Waiting: it is probably everyone’s favorite pastime (see what I did there?). Waiting is probably something that we have gotten progressively worse at in the modernization of society. At one point, if you wanted to contact someone at a distance, either you or a hired person had to go there physically and make the contact in person. There was simply no other way. Things evolved a bit, with the advent of services like the post office, where multiple messages headed in the same general direction could be taken together to make the process more efficient. Still, it would be weeks or months before you heard back, and that’s if you heard back. Then came the telegraph, then the telephone, then email, then text and online instant messenger services. Now, we contact a person and anticipate an immediate reply. With certain systems, there is even an indicator to let you know if the person has read your message or not! We’ve come a long way from sending a parchment from Rome to Asia Minor and hoping it got there without the messenger being robbed and left for dead on the side of the road!
But there are things that we sometimes happily wait for. What about waiting in line for food? When Lizzy and I were in college, we didn’t eat out often. We lived on a shoestring budget, so eating at a restaurant only a few times a year was normal. One summer in Knoxville, a new restaurant opened up that we really wanted to try. We saved our pennies and decided to go on Saturday evening. We got there and were met with a 2 ½ to 3 hour wait to be seated! Being a young married couple with no children and no homework to do, we decided to stick it out! I can’t remember if it was worth it or not, but I’m sure we convinced ourselves that it was in the moment!
God often calls upon us to wait. We, as His children, are ultimately waiting for the eternal state – the new heaven and the new earth. We are waiting for the culmination and fulness of the experience of God’s eternal Kingdom. While we are kingdom citizens now, we know the partial will pass away and the true and better will come. We, with the whole of creation, are groaning like in pains of childbirth. Waiting for the new, trusting our Savior while we walk our path in the old. That is our ultimate wait, and none of us who know Christ would ever dispute whether that wait will be worth it.
But there are lesser waits we are called to as well. What about waiting for a season of life to pass? What about waiting for an answer concerning a job, or a home, or a difficult situation? What about waiting for wisdom to make a decision? What about waiting on someone else to fulfill their responsibility in a way that directly affects you? Do you believe God is sovereign in and through all things? He is, whether you believe it or not. And since He is, that means He is sovereign over this kind of waiting as well, as He works through Human means to accomplish good and glory.
Perhaps the most familiar verse in Psalm 37 is the one that says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” That is a verse we love to claim, to cling to. Trusting in the Lord is a sure way to achieve peace and satisfaction. He changes our desires, He really becomes our desire. But how often do we want to attach a time-guarantee to these promises? It is no coincidence that just a few verses later, David says “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” Patience is something we ought to be familiar with as children of God. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Patience entails both forbearance (that is, self-control) and endurance (the ability to withstand hardship). Neither of those things are pleasing to our flesh. Neither of those things appeal to the desire to be gratified. Patience is called a virtue for a reason – because it is something that is a gift and a fruit, it is not inherently within any of us.
What are we saying when we are patient before the Lord, however? It is not the same as being patient with a belligerent coworker, or a stubborn child, or an obstinate situation. Being patient before the Lord is always a positive experience, because there is a guarantee of good outcome. We come to find that it is really ourselves that we have to bear with, and it is our own sinful desires that we have to endure. God’s provision is sure, even if its in the ultimate sense. There is nothing negative about waiting on the Lord, because he is working all things for good for those who love Him and are called by Him. What we struggle with most are the distractions of daily living.
When Lizzy and I were waiting in our 3 hour line to be seated at that restaurant, there were distractions. There were, of course, other restaurants we could have eaten at. We had already saved the money for the date, so we could have chosen to go to any number of other establishments that could have seated us almost immediately. There were the other patrons, many of which who had been there long before us. To see them waiting there still gave us some insight into the fact that they really did mean 2 ½ to 3 hours! And worst of all, there were those who were being seated! It is both encouraging and utterly frustrating to see others be seated before you. It is encouraging because you know there is hope! But it is frustrating because you want that experience for yourself.
And there are distractions in waiting on the Lord. David says, “fret not yourself over the one who prospers in the way, over the man who carries out evil devices.” How easy is it to see those who are distinctly not waiting on the Lord, and to say “they have made it so much further!” The temptation, there, is to think that some kind of positive earthly experience is always synonymous with blessing. When you equate the hand of God’s favor only with positive earthly experiences, you seriously shortchange the intricacy and beauty of God’s gracious hand. It is in these times that we must remember what David said again, a few verses later. “In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” Sound familiar? Probably because Jesus repeated and included that promise in his beatitudes. “The Meek shall inherit the earth.”
In other words, the waiting will be worth it. The fulness of the kingdom will be worth all these earthly waits. The unfolding of God’s plan of redemption will far outweigh the forbearance and endurance we have had to exhibit along the way. The meal at the restaurant will be worth the wait to be seated. And further, the waiting is part of the experience. When we waited 3 hours for a seat at that restaurant, we had 3 hours of time together. 3 hours of communication, joking, laughing, and growth. How much more does our waiting on the Lord produce good results> That is why Paul could say in Romans 5, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Be encouraged, Christian, child of God: whatever it is that you are waiting on the Lord for, He is worth the wait.
Working and Waiting,
Pastor Aaron Frost
June 11, 2021
