Waiting takes work. Thankfully, technology has diminished our need to wait. There is a self-checkout instead of waiting in a long line to check out. We used to wait to dial up on the internet years ago, but now when Wi-Fi goes down, we can grow frustrated if we do not have immediate access. Remember waiting for your favorite show to come on or renting from Blockbuster – now, there is such easy access through streaming. With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) even research about all things has become so much faster. Many have commented on this before, yet technology continues to negatively impact our ability to wait on God.
Waiting is not a popular subject in the day of outrage and action. It is often misunderstood and considered too passive and weak. The theme of actively waiting upon God is encouraged in scripture because God is the one who directs our lives and is sovereign over all of history. Glenn Tinder writes about a posture we are to have toward the world and culture as a prophetic stance. We will see this play out as we start a series in the book of Acts in a few weeks. Tinder states, “We must train ourselves to wait, in history, for God. To say that spirit is prior to order is to say that human beings depend on something they cannot at will acquire but can only be ready to receive.” Tinder adds that we are to be, “watching for the spirit that will enable us to act fruitfully.”
Waiting is difficult because it focuses more on one’s trust in God than one's ability to accomplish great things. “In obeying, one endures a degraded relationship, recognizing- so far as one obeys on the grounds of faith- that mastery and accomplishment belong more to God than to human beings. But doing this with trust in God means that there is no despair and no apathy.”
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked schemes (Psalm 37:7).
I wait for the Lord; my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope (Psalm 130:5).
Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, 36, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death (Proverbs 8:34-36).
The psalmist describes the ability to wait upon God even when difficult. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God (Psalm 69:3).
And we are to wait for the Lord for him to win the final battle:
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:12-14).
Waiting is an essential discipline in prayer. When we pray, we confess our sins and bring our needs and requests before the Lord. We wait upon him to work powerfully in and through people and circumstances to accomplish his purposes.
