Why Wait

Isaiah 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!

The other day I heard a radio commercial about how far we have technologically advanced in just the past 10 years. Ten years ago if you had e-mail and the internet, you had to wait a considerable amount of time for the dial-up service connection. Ten years ago texting didn't exist. Ten years ago there were no USB ports. And the list went on and on.

The faster the pace of our world, technology, drive-thru meals, and all modern conveniences, the harder it is for us to learn the key to waiting. For the past six months I have felt like God has had me in a holding pattern, of sorts. My emotions have gone from anticipation to frustration. I have felt like God has been grooming me for something yet to come, but I haven't been privy to the knowledge of what God is really doing in my life.

To me, six months has seemed like a long time. However, compared to the wait that some endure, it is a short, short time. Some people wait for years for a loved one's salvation or return from war or far away places. Some wait for years to be reunited with lost family. The Israelites waited forty years to see the promised land.

Waiting is not an easy task. However, I am praying that I will continue to learn the secret of being content, no matter how long the wait. Psalm 130:5 says, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I put my hope."

I think I finally understand one of the concepts of waiting. It is in the ACT of waiting that God IS doing his amazing work. The answers to prayer don't always come at the end of the wait. Many of them come IN the wait. It is when we ARE waiting that we learn to trust God fully. It is during this time of waiting that God shows himself to be our provider, sustainer, and he is enough. It isn't the answer at the end of the wait that is the end of our problem. That is simply another of God's blessings on us. The REAL blessing is gained in the day-to-day grind of the holding patterns of our lives when God shows up in the mundane things to prove himself. He is really all we need. We don't need that thing for which he is grooming us. We just need him.

Psalm 40:1-3 says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."

We all know that the anticipation of Christmas is bigger than the actual day that we celebrate the Lord's birth. The month preceding December 25 is full of opportunities to celebrate the reason we give gifts, share times with family and friends, and decorate our homes. During that month, we may hang lights, put up a tree, work through an Advent calendar, attend parties, and wear festive clothes. These things are all done during the wait. What would Christmas look like if we didn't do the wait of Christmas? It would seem lacking, for sure. On Christmas day, many of us spend time eating good food and opening gifts. But by the end of that day, or surely the next, we are ready to take down the tree, put away the lights, and get back to normal, every day life. The anticipation and the wait don't just make the day of Christmas special, the wait itself is special.

And that is surely how Mary and Joseph felt when they knew they were going to be the parents of the Messiah. It wasn't just about the price Jesus would pay on the cross through his death and resurrection. Every day from the moment the angel spoke to Mary about the immaculate conception to the day Mary joined Jesus in heaven, the Lord was working in her time of waiting. And every day in our lives, he is working and moving while we feel we are just waiting.

So, why wait? Because waiting IS the real work of life. During the wait, God is proving, over and ove,r that he is in control. He is God. He is enough.