Learning to Wait

"God has a time for everything, a perfect schedule. He is never too soon, never too late. The when of His will is as important as the what and the how." (Richard C. Halverson)

Timing is everything.  How often have you heard that phrase?

Timing is the difference between a perfectly thrown pass being caught, or not.

Timing can be the difference between perfectly baked cookies, or not.

Timing exactly when to flip those pancakes is the difference between yummy and gummy, or the difference between yummy and burned!

When it comes to more serious matters, like getting answers to our prayers, timing is everything as well.

God doesn't operate according to our timetables or our datebooks or our schedules.  We often wish He would, don't we?  I admit that I have often wanted to have a conversation with the Almighty (and actually have had such conversations on occasion) to explain why I thought His timing was a little off!  I mean no disrespect when I say that.  I do mean that it is often hard to wait.  Particularly when we are waiting a long time and when the thing we are waiting for, the answer we are seeking, seems never to come.

Learning to wait is hard.  Learning to accept God's timing is hard.  But nowhere in Scripture have I found any verse that tells me it will be easy!

I do, however, find lots of verses that talk about waiting.  In fact, the word wait is used more than 85 times in the Bible.  And that's not including other forms of the word, like waiting or waits or waited.

Waiting is hard.  Because in this era of fast cars and microwave everything, of instant coffee and instant oatmeal and all kinds of instant stuff, of twenty-four hour news cycles where we see everything almost the moment it happens, of internet and Facebook and Twitter........we aren't accustomed to having to wait for anything.

But I think that little word wait is used so often in Scripture for a reason. Because it's an important thing for us to do.  To wait on God.  To wait on His timing.  To trust that His way, His timing, His answer, is the right one.  Is perfect.

It's a hard lesson.  It's often frustrating.  I'm definitely a work in progress in this area.  But I'm learning.

"And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?  My hope is in you."  (Psalm 39:7 ESV)

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope."  (Psalm 130:5 ESV)