Monday Reflection – June 14, 2021 Waiting on God
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. Lamentations 3:25
When we think about it, patience is really a virtue. For many, waiting for anything feels like a complete waste of time. Waiting for God to move or answer seems even worse. Lamentations 3:25-27 shows us the value of living between suffering and restoration – “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” We could read these verses this way – “Good is the Lord to those who wait for him, Good it is that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” The text shows that there is obviously something good about waiting. To wait on the Lord means to place our hope in him, to trust that God is the one who can deliver us. Our entire confidence rests on him.
As Jeremiah laments, he recognizes that all the misery of God’s people had come because they would not truly seek God and wait for him. They rejected and rebelled for generations, then looked to others for rescue. Seeking God again would bring renewed expressions of his goodness. Admittedly, there are times when the only thing a sufferer can do is wait for God. But waiting is good because God is worth waiting for. Lament serves us well as we mourn and wait.
Why is waiting so hard? Mainly because it feels as if we are not doing anything, and that is the point. Sometimes we have nothing to do but allow God to work. However, waiting is one of the greatest applications of the Christian faith. We are putting our trust in God, placing our hope in him, and expressing confidence that he is in control. Waiting puts us in an uncomfortable place where we are out of control of our lives. This is the season where God shapes and refines us.
The uncertainty of what may or may not happen is usually haunting in the process of waiting. It can occupy so much space in our thinking. This has affected my sleep and assault my mind with the first thoughts of the day. Waiting can be hard because of the fear of what might happen. Our inability to do anything but wait is a powerless feeling. We want to know the answer. We want to know what’s going on. We want to know, what is the point of all that we are going through? Why is this happening? Rather than resisting this season, we can see waiting as an opportunity for life-changing lessons.
If we are in a position of waiting, let the words from Lamentations remind us that waiting is not a waste. In our lament, we should release control of our lives and say to God that though we don’t know what he is doing or why, we are going to trust him and the process that he is taking us through. If God’s providence requires us to wait, let’s remind our hearts that much good can come from this season. The Lord desires to teach us many lessons, and those lessons often come slowly—after we have stopped trying on our own, at the point we are broken and ready for him to lead us. In the midst of suffering, we would do well to remember that waiting on the Lord is not a waste. We wait upon the Lord because he is God and we are not. Isaiah 40:31 reminds us, “Those who wait for 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.”
Jermaine Gibson