THE HOLY WORK OF WAITING
Waiting is one of the most misunderstood disciplines of the Christian life. We often treat it as wasted time—a spiritual holding pattern until God finally does something meaningful. Yet Scripture tells a different story. Waiting is not inactivity; it is formation. In the quiet space between promise and fulfillment, God shapes the soul more deeply than He ever will in haste.
The Bible consistently calls God’s people to wait—not as an act of resignation, but as an expression of trust. Those who wait on the Lord are promised renewed strength; they are not diminished by delay but enlarged by dependence (Isaiah 40:31). Waiting strips us of the illusion of control and teaches us to lean into the sufficiency of God. It is here, in the tension of not yet, that faith learns to breathe.
The Psalms speak often of waiting with the whole self—heart, mind, and will fixed on God (Psalm 130:5). This kind of waiting is not passive; it is attentive. It listens for God’s voice, watches for His movement, and refuses to rush ahead of His timing. Waiting trains us to discern the difference between our urgency and God’s wisdom. What feels slow to us is often precise to Him.
Jesus Himself embraced waiting. Before His public ministry began, He waited in obscurity. Before the cross, He waited in prayer. Even after the resurrection, He instructed His disciples to wait for power from on high before acting (Acts 1:4). The Savior of the world was never in a hurry, because He trusted the Father completely. In Christ, waiting is revealed not as weakness, but as strength under submission.
Waiting also teaches us hope that is rooted, not restless. We learn that God is not withholding good, but preparing us to receive it. The delay is not denial; it is refinement. In waiting, our desires are purified, our motives clarified, and our hearts aligned with the purposes of God. What finally arrives does so not as an idol, but as a gift.
The holy work of waiting forms a people who are patient without apathy, expectant without anxiety, and faithful without applause. It teaches us to live between the times with open hands and steady hearts, trusting that the God who promised is faithful—and always on time.
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Patient Lord, teach us to wait well. Quiet our anxious hearts and steady our restless spirits. Help us trust Your timing, submit to Your wisdom, and remain faithful in the in-between. Do Your deep work in us as we wait, until Your purposes are fully revealed. Amen.
BDD
