Waiting – Paul Nordman

Eager Patience

Waiting for God to act. It’s not exactly our strong suit, is it? Yet so much of our time is spent doing exactly that — waiting for relief, waiting for answers, waiting for direction, waiting, waiting, waiting. So how do we wait? Sometimes like David we wait anxiously for God: “How long O Lord . . . How long . . . How long . . . ?”¹ Perhaps in better times, we, like Abraham, have “waited patiently”² for Him. And then there is the patience of Simeon. “He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”³ How inspiring, this eager patience of Simeon. And how awesome, the faithfulness of his God.

I find it fascinating that both God and Simeon longed for the same thing, the sending of the Messiah. For what Simeon yearned to receive, God desired to give. In fact, God himself waited for a very specific time of fulfillment, a time of His own eager expectation. For “when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”⁴ The promised moment is forever fulfilled: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”⁵ In His timing, God has done what God has promised. Merry Christmas!

Then in the confidence of our promise-keeping God we wait again, for our Messiah will return to us just as assuredly as He came two millennia ago. For “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”⁶ Did you catch it? We are called to wait for the Messiah as Simeon awaited Him— eagerly. To me this means aligning my will with God’s purposes, joining Him in His work as He calls me today, speaking truth in love, extending grace to others from the grace I have received. It means conversing with Him who calls me “friend”⁷ and humbling myself before Him who is both Lord and King.⁸

What about you? What might “eagerly waiting” for Jesus mean to you?

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. — Jude 20-21 NIV

Father, You are the promise-keeping God. Thank You for giving us Your Spirit to guide us in eager expectation of Your presence, both now and forever. Grace us to submit ourselves to Him. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ Psalm 13:1-2 ESV
² Hebrews 6:15 NLT
³ Luke 2:25-26 NLT
⁴ Galatians 4:4-5 NIV
⁵ Isaiah 9:2 ESV
⁶ Hebrews 9:28 ESV
⁷ John 15:15
⁸ Revelation 19:16 ESV

Wait for It

“For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” —Habakkuk 2:3

Sober now for over 30 years, my friend remains fully engaged in “the program,” gaining daily strength against addictions while coming alongside others battling their own. From time to time, they share among themselves this helpful adage, a perspective that lifts one’s gaze beyond the crisis of the moment and to the victory that awaits those who persevere: “Don’t give up five seconds before the miracle.”

As we mature in Christ, our faith— “the certainty of things hoped for”¹— deepens, strengthens, and grows. The more we recognize God’s work in and around us, the more we trust He hears our prayers and answers them. What leaves us unsettled, however, is the matter of when. It is one thing to trust in God’s goodness and power; it is quite another to rest in His timing. As a friend recently observed, “We can be impatient with God’s patience.” So true. When facing the vast Philistine army, for instance, King Saul took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice that Samuel—a seeming no-show at the time— was to offer upon arrival. “As soon as [Saul] had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.”² Said Samuel to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God . . . Now your kingdom shall not continue.”³ The king had given up moments before the miracle, and with tragic results.

God’s plans and promises have a time element to them, and they will be fulfilled soon enough. Saul’s successor David understood the pain of waiting— “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”⁴ Yet he trusted not only in God’s faithfulness to His promises, but also in the wisdom of His timetable. “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”⁵ This faith —faith that waits—does not give up before the miracle, rather it endures to see its manifestation and then rejoices in its timing. For God “acts for those who wait for him.”⁶

Have you ever seen God answer your prayer on schedule different than you expected? Do you now see wisdom in His timeline? Then what is it today that you might submit both to God’s power and to His timing?

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.⁷ Lift my gaze to the victory that lies beyond any crisis I may face today. In Christ I pray. Amen.

¹ Hebrews 11:1 NASB
² 1 Samuel 13:10
³ 1 Samuel 13:13-14
⁴ Psalm 13:1
⁵ Psalm 130:5 NIV
⁶ Isaiah 64:4
⁷ Psalm 5:3 NIV