"God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times." –Lamentations 3:25-27, The MESSAGE
Waiting is the bane of modern existence. Fast foods, instant fixes, rapid transit – nobody in today’s America feels their time should ever be spent waiting for anything. How impatient we grow in heavy traffic, or standing in a check-out line of some grocery or mart. How crabby we become when our aspirations for having something immediately at our fingertips is thwarted by technology failures, human error, or simply the laws of physics. As far as we are able to arrange things, all things are geared toward the ideal of “have it your way,” and right away.
So please, have your exact change ready when you board.
With this in mind, I am going to say something here that may seem like heresy to many a modern ear. I am going to disagree with the beloved concept of instant gratification, much as my own soul seems to want it in most things (as I am sure your own soul does also). I am going to say here that waiting is good for the soul. Yes. Waiting can be good for the soul.
This comes from personal experience and observation, study, human interaction, and prayer. But having said this, I must also say that waiting is not and never will be easy. At least not for me, and I suspect not for you either. We are conditioned by our culture to naturally expect those immediate delights we each so deeply long for. And like you, I am a product of that culture. I want it all, and I want it all today.
Which is to say, waiting, or learning the value of waiting, is not easy for today’s people. In fact if we do learn to wait, it will likely be the by-product of much invested time and effort, trial and error, courage and determination. It will be a back to the drawing board struggle, with highs and lows, wins and losses. It will take nurturing the ability to succeed without growing over-confident. And it will also take the grit to face disappointment and failure without giving up.
But most of all, learning to wait, learning the value of waiting, in the little things of life and the larger than life things, is going to take faith in God. This I am sure of. And this is really why I am writing this down. Waiting is a positive spiritual exercise. It may not feel that way at the time, but waiting can be a great faith adventure. It can also be a tedious journey. Yet entering into it is how we can put spiritual roots down, deep in the fertile soil of God’s gracious love and provision. So come, let’s go. Hurry up, and wait with me.
