“But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 NKJV

Waiting…probably one of our least favorite things to do! I want to make two comments about waiting in our current world. One, with all the technology and convenience in this modern world we live in, we are spoiled in that we don’t have to wait for a lot of things. Food can be delivered to our homes or can be picked up in minutes at a drive-through window. If we want to find some information, we go online and look it up, no more driving to the library to do research. When we want to apply for a job, it’s all online. We can email and text and Skype and Facetime! Second, when we do have to wait for any length of time we get frustrated and upset. We worry about everything else we have to do and get stressed out!

One of the fruits of the spirit is patience. I love that in most translations this gift is called “longsuffering”! Longsuffering is defined as showing patience in spite of troubles. Waiting on God can feel like we are “suffering for a long time”.

But the simple fact is that God’s time and our time are not the same. However, we have some wonderful promises in the Bible about waiting on God. In addition to Isaiah above, a couple more are:

“Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Psalms 27:14 NKJV

“…But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth.” Psalms 37:34 NKJV

Waiting on God may involve letting go of things we expect or desire for our lives. But God has a different and better plan for us if we can trust and wait. One of my constant comforts to my children, when something they wanted more than anything didn’t happen, was that it was not meant to be. God has something more spectacular planned for you. And usually they realized it later (sometimes much later!) as events did fall in to place, just not as they had expected.

I can sympathize with Paul. God has not healed some of my health issues as I would want. But I must trust and wait and understand that His grace is sufficient for me. Maybe God has a plan for me to help someone else with the same issues…I will continue to wait on God. But He has blessed my life in so many other innumerable ways! “…all things work together for good to those who love God…” Romans 8:28 NKJV

This week take your waiting times and thank God for all that He has accomplished in your life. Let your stress become peace. Let your heartache become healing. Let your sickness become comfort. Let your anxiety become trust. And we will wait for God, and with God, as he works for good in our lives!