In the city where I live in South India, traffic jams are as inescapable as stains on white pants. There is no escaping them. Here, traffic lights hold “special” meanings—green is typically a signal that a symphony of honking will begin. The thing is, we can’t get very far even when the green light is on, so we might as well channel our energy into blaring horns. The ensuing cacophony is distracting enough to get our minds off the waiting, at least temporarily.

While you may not commute on roads that resemble unruly parking lots, I assume that you know a thing or two about waiting. All of us find ourselves in life’s waiting rooms. Waiting is a universal human experience.

In the Christian context, waiting is never arbitrary; it is never accidental. Delays and detours don’t derail God. Our Sovereign God knows exactly what’s going on and when. Waiting is undoubtedly perplexing, but can we find purpose in it?

What does it mean to wait on God? How can we wait well?

If you find yourself in life’s waiting room, here are three suggestions. Will the waiting be magically easier if you follow these three steps? Unlikely. But we can find purpose in life’s inevitable delays when we align ourselves with God’s ways.

1. Find our anchor in God’s Word

What do most of us do in waiting rooms? Not metaphorical waiting rooms but real-life ones? If you’re anything like me, you immediately pull out your phone. We’ve become addicted to digital distraction. And that distraction leads to a dullness of mind and an agitation of heart, where we are unable to sit with God’s Word, meditate on it, and draw out truths from it.

But without the anchor of Scripture in our lives, we will drift away. Without a daily diet of God’s Word, we will grow weak in the waiting. Friends, the call for us is to feast on the Word, to let it fill us, to let it form us.

Here’s a question to ask ourselves:

In the waiting, am I fasting from distraction and feasting on the Word of God? 

Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”

Scripture holds us steadfast in the waiting. 

2. Build a lifestyle of worship

Both my teen kids have braces. While I knew that kids with braces meant our savings would start to disappear, I didn’t bargain for my time vanishing as well. Our dentist is a very kind Christian man who had a “fluid” concept of time.

When we have an appointment, the kids and I prepare to camp out. As this dentist is a Christian, worship music plays in the waiting room. Exactly my kind of Christian music—a playlist my kids would describe as “cringe.” But when I slow down and let myself engage with the music, that dentist waiting room becomes like a worship service. Instead of my mind going numb after two hours of scrolling on Instagram, I have the opportunity to turn my eyes upon Jesus.

That’s just an illustration of waiting, but the question is: are we worshipping in the waiting?

Worship doesn’t mean playing 90’s Christian music on your airpods. It means fixing your gaze on God in every situation and thanking Him for who He is.

Here’s a question to ask ourselves:

In the waiting, do I choose to worship?

Worship shifts our perspective from the problem to the Problem-Solver. Worship is warfare against worry.

3. Engage in the here and now

Whether you’re changing diapers, crunching numbers, studying for exams, or serving in a ministry that feels small—do it with all your heart, as unto the Lord. (Col 3:23-24)

In a world that says “Bigger is better” and patronizes us with “Dream big” slogans, the Word of God not to despise the day of small beginnings (Zech 4:10). It tells us to aspire to live a quiet life (1 Thessalonians 4:11)! It’s a counter-cultural, counter-intuitive instruction.

Here’s a question to ask ourselves:

In the waiting, am I faithful in the ordinary tasks?

When we intend to glorify God no matter how mundane the task might be, our waiting is imbued with purpose.

But here’s the thing: our own stories of waiting carry echoes of a greater story.

As believers, we are all waiting for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s greatest promise: the return of our King, Jesus.

The Israelites waited from the time of the last prophet Malachi to the arrival of the Messaiah for 400 years. There was silence in that waiting period. But then Jesus came. He came once, born in a manger, lived a perfect life, died on a cross for our sins, and rose again, conquering death. He ascended to heaven, and He promised He would return to make all things new, to wipe away every tear, to end all suffering, and to establish His eternal kingdom. That’s the big promise we’re all waiting for.

Today, we live in the liminal space of the “already, but not yet.” The Kingdom of God is already here, within us and among us. But it is not yet here in its fullness. Meanwhile, we serve, we love, we worship, we build, we share the good news, all while eagerly anticipating that final, glorious fulfillment.

As you navigate your period of waiting, can I lead you through Psalm 13?

Like David in Psalm 13, we have questions for God:

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

 

Like David, we are desperate for God’s intervention:

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

 

But, through it all, may we remember His goodness. May we say in the words of Psalm 13:

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

 

Lean In

Heavenly Father, In the midst of my questions, may I trust your unfailing love. May I learn to wait not just for the promise, but for the Promise-Keeper. May I keep my eyes on eternity and work daily to honor You so I hear those words from You: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In Jesus’ name. Amen

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