Life IS waiting.

We always are waiting for something or someone. So, why is it harder in some situations than others? Why can’t we make peace with waiting? Is there a way to see it in a different light?

Scripture gives many examples of people who wait a long time for things. Abraham and Sarah’s waiting for Isaac’s birth spanned twenty-five years after God’s first promise.

Joseph spent two years waiting in prison, as did the Apostle Paul.
David waited at least fifteen years to become king.
Israel waited nearly forty years to enter the Promised Land.
Jacob waited seven years before he was married to Rachel.

There are many more. So why do we often have a hard time waiting for things in our own lives? Perhaps it’s because we don’t understand how lives are built.

Just as a foundation must be laid before a house’s walls are constructed, the walls must be up before the roof is placed, and the doorways must be cut before the doors are mounted, so also aspects of our lives build on one another.

This is not always apparent to us, because often we think we are ready for something long before it happens. But then we realize that God had other plans.

He makes us wait for the promotion.
He makes us wait for the house to sell.
He makes us wait for the test results to come back.
He makes us wait for the car to be repaired.
He makes us wait for the neighbor to remove his trash.
And so forth.

We want to get on with things, but often God has an interlude planned for us. It was going to be there all the time, but we just didn’t expect it.

Waiting is difficult, but we can make peace with it. What helps is this reality, that one thing must be built upon another, and it is only the Master Architect who has the plans.

“Be patient, therefore, Brothers, until the coming of the Lord.”
James 1:7


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