Why is waiting so Hard?

I have found that as I grow in my walk with the Lord, and His Word has its sanctifying work in my life, that I desire Him and His ways.  Even His Will above my own.  The aspect that I struggle most with, however, is His timing.  Ouch.  I want all the good things NOW.  Like now, now.  Immediately.  Waiting is not part of my American Christian vocabulary.  There are many verses that speak of waiting, but the one that consistently refines me is found in Psalm 62.  David, wrote in Psalm 62:5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.

Now there is something very important we need to consider about this Psalm and the reminder to wait.  This is a psalm penned when David was king.  Stop and consider that for a minute.  King.  A king was telling himself to wait.   It’s easy for us to think of our waiting situation as unique to us, as one that only we have had to bear up under.  We can easily believe the lie that if we had more power or influence we would not endure waiting, because we would just make things happen.  Well, here’s a truth to counter that.  God reigns, His ways and timing reign, no matter how powerful we think we might be, we are all simply humans on a small planet, in a huge galaxy that inhabits a microcosum of space. 

So we can learn from David’s declaration to his own soul to wait for God.  What do we see in this small verse? 

Quite a few things.

First, David declares his ultimate trust and dependency upon God-not man.  It is easy to be upset at men for delays and to vent about them, but God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being.  As a Christian, those frustrations need to be transforming us, and not simply stewing in us, churning up bitterness and anger. 

Secondly, it shows us where our expectation and hope really lie.  And often it’s not in the Lord.  David declares “my expectation is from Him”. From God, not man.  It’s in the long delay that we are forced to see how much trust we have put in man and not God.  Sometimes that man is ourself.  Our control.  And we do a pretty good job controlling our lives and making decisions that honor the Lord, so we should be at liberty to continue to make those decisions (sarcasm!).  Until the Lord steps in and shows us how little control we actually have, and how utterly dependent we are on Him.

Waiting, forces off to stare hard at our expectations and ask questions about why we even have those expectations in the first place. Often, it’s because we’ve been comparing our lives to others or making determinations based on what we see of how others are living and thinking that our life should look the same as theirs. When it starts to not look the same way it makes us consider why we’ve thought that to begin with. And brings us back to that place of submission to God’s will, ways and timing.

Waiting purifies our expectations and desires and forces you to consider why you are hoping in something besides the Lord.  See, when our expectation is from Him, we aren’t concerned as much with other things.  And guess what?  He always wants to give us more of Himself.  He always wants to reveal more of Himself to us.  We can have it all if Jesus is all we want. 

So how do we wait well?

I wish there was a magic pill, a one-time vote we could cast that would make this process easy, but there isn’t.  Like everything else that’s sanctifying, it’s a lifelong process that is only completed when we are no longer bound by time, because we are in glory.

Here is the only answer-fix our eyes on Jesus.  Hebrews 12:1-2 are the only answer to waiting.  These verses follow an entire chapter that speaks of the faith of men and women throughout time (Hebrews 11).  Faith that was often worked out in the midst of waiting on God.  Faith that took them right up to the wire and sometimes past their own abilities, and yet God brought His will to pass. 

As we fix our eyes on Jesus, we speak truth to ourselves, which is what David was doing in Psalm 62. When we choose to believe His Word above our feelings, emotions, good days, bad days, and days of total, outright discouragement, we declare that we will trust God above all else. I’m sure that many of the heroes of the faith had those types of days, too. In fact, Scripture tells us of their doubts and how some of them took matters into their own hands and how that didn’t turn out very well.  In fact, one of our prayers in a waiting situation has become, “Oh God, do not let me birth an Ishmael.”

Finally, we wait in hope.  This is truth has come after many character studies of Old Testament and New Testament saints.  See waiting shows us that we’re not yet ready for whatever we desire.  We NEED this time to become the person who can walk in whatever God is allowing us to wait for.  We really don’t like that fact, but it’s true, because we think we can handle so much more than we really can.  So, God mercifully holds things back, showing how much we need a Heavenly Father who has our best interests in mind and wants to give us good gifts – when we’re ready for them! Looking back on your life, can you imagine getting the things you wanted immediately?  How badly would you have ruined them?  How badly would they have ruined you? 

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.