What Is Your Wait Worth?

In a world striving to satiate the hunger for instant gratification at every turn, the idea of having to wait is despised, even avoided as much as possible. I remember the days in middle school and high school, listening to that awful dialing and crackling while waiting for our dial-up internet to connect, for my AOL Instant Messenger to start up, and for Ask.com taking much longer than .2 seconds to load, only to have it all disconnect unexpectedly because one of my siblings picked up the landline. 

I remember writing letters to my friends from camp in elementary school, staying in touch and waiting, sometimes weeks at a time, for a response. Every day I would check the mailbox with the same eager anticipation, hoping to see an envelope with my name on the front in the familiar handwriting.

I remember high school trips to Valleyfair, a local amusement park, where my friends and I would wait for upwards of two hours for the fastest, most terrifying rides. We’d pass the time with laughs, stories, people watching, and complaining about how sunburned we would be by the end of the day. 

Waiting isn’t always the worst thing in the world. 

But I also remember the anticipation of waiting for Christmas morning as a kid, hoping to see the Lion King stuffed animal I so desperately wanted, wishing away time with everything in me so I could experience the joy that one morning was sure to bring. 

I remember the terror in waiting for various AP and ACT test results which, at the time, were everything in determining where my future was headed.

I remember a day in May before my senior year of college, spending 10 hours in a hospital waiting room, awaiting news of my mom’s third open heart surgery, praying it would go as planned. 

Waiting sometimes is the worst thing in the world.

But it isn’t just past. Waiting is present. Is there something you are waiting for right now? I’d be shocked if there wasn’t. I know I am waiting right now. Sometimes it is longer, more uncertain, or more drawn out than in other seasons, but it is present all the same. From small things like waiting for the package of my puppy’s dog food to arrive to the big things, like waiting for my next job in ministry to begin or still waiting for the man I want to walk through this crazy life with. I am also still waiting for my dang tax return!

Not only that, waiting is also future because whatever it is you are waiting for is yet to come. It can be full of hope, dread, or perhaps equal parts of both. It’s letting things play out, staying where you are, perhaps delaying action(s) until something else happens or falls into place. Maybe it’s waiting on other people. It means anticipation – for better or for worse. 

Waiting is inevitable. It is something we all face to varying degrees every single day, for it is interwoven within the fabric of the story of mankind. Scripture informs us of this truth. That’s why I think it is valuable to look at why we wait, how we wait, and what the waiting produces. It is not wasted. 

You know at Christmas time, there’s this season called Advent? It essentially means waiting. Watching. Anticipating. Waiting for what? (Or whom would be the better question.) Well, back in the Garden of Eden, everything was as God intended for His creation. Adam and Eve walked in perfect relationship with the Lord, knowing full and true intimacy, peace, and joy. But, they chose to rebel against God and His way, thinking He was holding out on them and thinking they knew how to do things better. They chose autonomy and in so doing, the curse of sin entered this world, wreaking havoc across creation, relationships, and all generations to come. God is a God of love, justice, and redemption. From the beginning, in Genesis 3:15, God does not leave humanity on their own. He promises a son of the woman who will come and set things right, who will restore what has been lost. The waiting for the Savior begins. As you read through the Old Testament, the question lingers, is this the promised one? Is it Isaac? Jacob? David? Is this finally the one we have been waiting for to restore all things? Time marches on and God’s people continue in a cycle of rebellion and repentance, crying out to God to save them. The Old Testament closes and still, the promised son of the woman, the son of David, the one who will restore and reign forever is yet to come. Will God be faithful to His promise? 

The New Testament opens with Matthew 1:1, announcing He has come! Jesus is here! And that is what we celebrate at Christmas, the son of the woman has finally come! Christ has come, God WITH us, Emmanuel! Jesus came, lived, died in our place, taking our death on the cross and was buried. Three days later He rose again defeating Satan, sin, and death forever, reconciling His people to Himself! He made a way for us to be in right relationship with God again, to belong to His family. He ascended back to the right hand of the Father and He is coming back. The culmination of the story of this world, the Kingdom of God restored, is when King Jesus returns to make His eternal home here with us. So there remains a second Advent for mankind – we wait and watch for the return of the King. This is our hope! We hold the promise that Home is coming for us. There will be no more pain, suffering, or grief. Read Revelation 21-22 to see what it is we wait for. We live from knowing how this story ends. Our time on this earth is but a mist, a prologue of all that is to come.

Why did I spend so much space walking through that very brief overview of the story of this world? Because I PRAY it revives and stirs your heart. I pray it refreshes your perspective on your current season of waiting. We’re all waiting – for direction, breakthrough, or unfulfilled dreams/promises. (Maybe you’re like me and part of that is waiting for the return of Minnesota Vikings football.) But, my friends, ultimately, we’re waiting for the return of the King. He will come to fix and restore all things. It is our privilege as children of God, as believers, to participate in Kingdom now, to live as if we can bring God’s already into the not yet. No matter the timing in God’s direction for my next job and how it will all play out, future spouse, family, my daily ordinary routines, I am living in and for His Kingdom today, tomorrow, and every day He has ordained for me. I pray His Kingdom continues to become the goal of all my desires and longings. That secure future hope, offered only through a life with the Triune God, is what comforts me on the days of despair and pain. It is what inspires me to create. It is what fuels dreams and plans that are way bigger than me! It is my source of peace when things feel like they’re spinning out of control and I can’t do a dang thing to stop them. Hope. Jesus lives. He’s coming back and I cannot wait for the day I get to throw my arms around Him and take my place at His table. 

Did you know you have a place at His table? The invitation has already been extended and it is up to you whether or not you choose to accept. No other decision you make in this life can offer you the joy, hope, and peace found in Christ alone.

Because of Jesus, there is hope in the waiting. Over the past year specifically, I have walked through some intense and prolonged seasons of waiting. It hasn’t always been something I swallowed with quiet dignity and grace, trusting the Lord sustains me. It looked like a lot of anger, tears, and frustration most days. To be honest, it was shrouded in doubt and fear a lot of the time. It was HARD. For me, it is much more terrifying to wait, to do nothing until the Lord directs, than to start making my own moves forward. I don’t think waiting well means you shut up your emotions, trying to whip yourself into a place you think would be pleasing to the Lord. I don’t think it looks like pretending everything is fine when it isn’t. I don’t think it can be boiled down to a formula or three easy steps. I think waiting well can look like a mess. I think it looks like being raw and honest with Jesus when you would rather run away and tell Him you’ve got it all under control. I think it looks like time with Father God, not for the sake of an agenda but just because you enjoy being with Him. Waiting well means trusting it is well. I think it looks like dependence – on Jesus, trusting He sustains and is the source of all peace, but also on a few trusted friends around you. My mind flashes back to a few of my examples at the beginning of this blog – Valleyfair, the hospital waiting room. The waiting was bearable and passed quicker than anticipated because I was surrounded by other people. People who knew me, people who cared. They waited with me.

Another truth we cannot miss is that waiting creates something that could not grow any other way. I cannot believe I am saying this, but I am thankful for the waiting. It has strengthened and deepened my faith in ways I didn’t know were possible. I cannot pinpoint how or when, except that the power of the Spirit did this in me. Pain and trauma I have lived through was nothing compared to what Jesus suffered, yet oh how it has drawn us closer. The waiting forced my hand in some ways because there was truly nothing I could do to change things by my own doing or in my timing. It required me to slow down. To rest. To just be and wait on the Lord. He speaks in those spaces, in the stillness. Deepened intimacy with Jesus is what makes the wait worth it in my book. He turns what was intended for evil for His good. Jesus promises His presence. He promises we are forever family. He promises grace. He promises Himself. How I have held to His Word and His promises even tighter this past year, waiting and watching, trusting He will make a way. (He is the Way after all.)  God is able and He delights to do so. I don’t know who needs to hear that, but there it is. Surrender control and rest in His faithfulness. Hold to the promises of Scripture that says the Lord will renew the strength of those who wait (Isaiah 40:27-31; Psalm 37:5-7; Isaiah 30:18-33).

I know this blog has been a bit scattered but I pray it encourages you. No matter how long your period of waiting is, no matter if it’s eager anticipation or looks more like fearful worry, take heart knowing the best is yet to come and that will never change: Jesus is coming back. Knowing all of my waiting in this life reflects a shadow of this lifelong wait for Home…I don’t know, somehow it makes it a little easier. It takes the edge off. The verses that talk about the Lord strengthening those who wait on Him encourage me to no end because it means He’s got me covered all my days because I’m waiting for Him: “til He returns or calls me home.”

And lastly, a truth for you to take away in this exact moment: He is IN the waiting. 

He is with you. 

Here.

Now.

Aren’t you glad that’s one thing you don’t have to wait for?

In all honesty, He’s the One waiting for you.