The Attitudes of Waiting, Part 1

How much time in a day do you spend waiting for something?

We wait in car lines to pick up our kids. We wait in line to pay for our groceries. We wait for our food to arrive at a restaurant.

On a spiritual level, I’m beginning to think we spend a lot of time waiting there as well. We wait for God to answer our prayers. We wait for unbelieving loved ones to finally embrace Christ as their Savior, and most importantly, we wait for Christ to return.

I also think this kind of “spiritual” waiting is the most difficult. If you wait in a car line, you know your kids are going to come (at least you hope so!). At the grocery store, you know you’ll eventually get your turn at the cashier. And as far as restaurants go, wait too long and the waiter (now there’s another person waiting!) risks losing a nice tip, but you will get your food. All of these kinds of waiting have tangible and guaranteed outcomes. Not necessarily positive, but the waiting does end within expected and controllable parameters.

That’s not the case in the spiritual realm. Sometimes our waiting can go on for years. Some prayers are answered quickly, others take time for God to move and speak. We wait and pray for our unbelieving spouses to come to Christ and wonder if it will ever happen. And we wait for Christ’s return, wondering if it will occur in our own lifetime, or the lifetimes of our children or grandchildren.

That’s a lot of waiting…and wondering…and hoping. We have no guaranteed outcome for this kind of waiting. We can’t control what the outcome will be. Often times, we don’t even know what to expect. Perhaps that’s what makes it so hard. We’re not in control. And if we’re not in control, that means we have to trust someone or something other than ourselves.

We have to trust God.

Trust seems to truly be the key in this waiting game. Even in the temporal realm, trust is involved. You trust the school to take care of your children and return safely them at the end of the day. You trust the systematical supply and purchase of groceries. You even trust the established purpose of a restaurant to serve you food (even if it’s bad, you’re going to get food).

So why is it so hard to trust God? He’s more trustworthy than any earthly establishment. And certainly more consistent. The Bible proves this over and over again. God is who he says he is. God will do what he says he will do. God is always in control.

We start with belief, then as we come to know God better, our trust takes seed and begins to sprout. And through his discernible, repetitive, and reliable movement in our lives, our trust grows even more.

Our times of waiting can either be periods of unrest, resistance, or impatience. Or they can be times to grow in our trust and belief in God. That part we do have control over. How will we wait and with what attitude? I hope you’ll join me next month to explore the next two attitudes of waiting.

Waiting patiently and waiting expectantly.

Praying, believing…and waiting,
Dineen

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