Waiting on God is frustrating but fruitful.
For years I commuted to work by train, and given that I live in Chicago several difficult trips will not be forgotten. During one blizzard I had to take a late-evening train. I parked my car at the station 10 minutes before the scheduled arrival. With the wind blowing hard, my walk from car to station was bitterly cold, so with relief I reached out my hand to the door of the station and pulled. The door was locked.
I walked over to a brick wall that broke the wind and huddled there shaking and counting the minutes. I was wearing a decent winter coat, but dress slacks and dress shoes. The arrival time came and went without a train, and my heart sank. What should I do? I could not wait in my car because the train could arrive and leave before I could run to catch it. Driving home in the blizzard would be hazardous and long. So I kept waiting, not knowing how long that wait might last. I was alone except for one couple on the other side of the building. The wind howled, the snow fell thickly, my hands and feet and face were numb.
Mixed news
After about 10 minutes an automated announcement came over the station’s loudspeakers, and what a relief it was to get information. The news, however, was mixed. The train was rolling but had been delayed by mechanical problems and would arrive in approximately twenty-five minutes. Twenty-five minutes sounded like forever, but at least I knew I was not waiting in vain.
I was now in survival mode. My nose was running, and I was out of tissue. I still did not want to chance waiting in my car because I was not sure I could trust the time given on the announcement. I walked up and down the stairs of the station to generate heat. I moaned. I wondered what homeless people do in times like these. I peered down the tracks again and again looking for a glow in the distance.
Hope
After about 30 minutes the automated voice began another announcement: “Attention Metra customers, a train will soon be arriving in your station.” Oh, thank you, Lord! Three more frigid minutes passed. Finally a growing light appeared in the west. The locomotive’s horn blared, and its warning bell clanged louder and louder as the train pushed through the accumulated snow and crept into the station. It stopped, the doors opened, and the conductor jumped out. I mounted the stairs and walked numbly into another world of light and warmth, where a few commuters were calmly reading their cell phones. I walked the aisle and found a seat, doing my best to act similarly calm, though I felt the raw emotion of someone just rescued. My wait was over. My train had come.
Many people are waiting for trains. They long for financial relief. Or they pray daily that God will give a spouse, child, or new job. Some hope finally to succeed in business or ministry. Others need healing. Some intercede for loved ones in trouble. What they have in common is the waiting, longing, hope, and need. How long until the Lord acts?
Waiting on God can feel pointless
One frustrating thing about waiting is, it seems pointless. We see every good reason for God to fulfill our desires immediately. Pain or hardship could end. Happiness could begin. Many could praise God as his glory is displayed. The Bible says many things to affirm such hopes, yet despite our efforts nothing happens. Why the wait?
This is a situation where at least part of the answer is that God is testing us. The trial has a pattern. It begins with our desire. Then the Lord awakens faith through his Word that he can fulfill that desire. Then he waits, and we must keep believing the promise, sometimes despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, perhaps for an unbearably long while. Then God acts. The test ends in joy, in gratitude to God, in a life transformed by the process. Indeed, the test is a defining experience.
A spiritual passage
The test of waiting is a spiritual passage. Although it feels as though little is happening, in reality huge spiritual things are getting done. We are crossing a long bridge to a wonderful place. We are moving into God’s highest purposes, which are always bigger than we imagine. We are in the process of promotion. Equally important, God is working through our wait for the good of others, and most important, he is working for his kingdom purposes. He is doing something much bigger than what you have in mind.
Two people in the Bible illustrate this trial and its rewards especially well: Joseph, the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob, and Abraham. Both lives teach principles that help us pass our own test of waiting on God.
We will resume next week in part 2 with a focus on Joseph’s experience in waiting on God and what we can learn from him for our own frustrating wait.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)