Waiting Well - Part 2

wait

Monday we looked at what the Biblical definition of waiting is, and how we need to get that correct first. Today, we will look at some of what is involved in waiting according to the Bible.

  1. WAITING NECESSITATES THAT TIME WILL PASS

Read Psalm 130:5-6: “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.”

This is why context is so helpful in discerning what is meant by words, in this case, waiting. The Psalmist was comparing waiting expectantly on the Lord to the night guards of the city who watched the passage of time in anticipation of the coming light of morning when they would be released from duty. Waiting on the Lord means enduring the passage of time. No way around it. Time must pass. No way to expedite this or get around this.

  1. WAITING INVOLVES CONFIDENT EXPECTATION WHILE THAT TIME PASSES

We mentioned and showed Monday that waiting includes the concept of hope, which is why the Hebrew word qavah is sometimes translated “hope” or “look expectantly,” and why “yacha”, which means “to wait”, can mean either “wait” or “hope.”

What we learn from this is that WAITING and HOPING are wound together like the strands of a rope. The picture we have here is the reality that there is a promise held out to us in the future and waiting involves shaping our lives today around this promise in confident expectation.

Discuss this: How does the surety and certainty of the promise being fulfilled and in the promise giver impact our ability to wait?

Look again Psalm 130:5-6.

“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.”

When we, like the guards of the city, wait for the morning, we are waiting for more than simply time to pass. We are not just wasting time. We are waiting for something to happen, something that is expectant to happen, namely for the sun to rise, for the darkness to be replaced by the light.

This is where we learn of the expectant nature of our waiting. These watchman have seen the sun rise time and time again, they know it is coming, and so they wait expectantly based upon that confidence.

It is the same for us. Waiting means anticipation, expectation, confident hope in something that will take place. Ultimately, waiting on the Lord is like waiting on the sun to rise. We shouldn’t doubt it, but we still must wait for it. There is nothing you can do to speed it up. It rises at its appointed time, and we must simply wait. But expect it.

  1. WAITING INVOLVES AN EXPECTATION BASED ON KNOWLEDGE AND TRUST

Discuss this: How does knowledge and even wisdom impact waiting? Without knowledge and wisdom and trust, we simply won’t wait—at least not without a great deal of anxiety—and usually not without taking matters into our own hands. Lack of knowledge and wisdom leads to this mistake.

For all of our lives, every day, the sun has come up. We may not see it due the clouds, but it came up. We have learned that this can be expected based upon what has always happened in the past. Read Romans 15:4. Discuss this: What does this teach us that knowledge of the Word and the character of God does for us? It fuels our ability to wait based upon the faithful and unchanging character of God.

Discuss this: Conversely, what does this teach us that an absence of a knowledge of the Word and of the character of God and their consequences for our lives? Paralyzes and diminishes our ability to trust. Disrupts this blessing of knowing the Word and the Lord well.

As we study and know the Word and God’s character well, in the same way that we have seen throughout our lives the sun rise every single day, that it has never failed, not even once, we begin to have this same knowledge and confidence in God, for the Bible shows us the same truth about God, that He has never failed to do what He says He will do. Great is His faithfulness. His mercy is new every morning.

The ability to wait on the Lord stems from being confident and focused on who God is and in what God is doing. It means confidence in God’s person, confidence in His wisdom, love, timing, understanding of our situation and that of the world. It means knowing and trusting in God’s principles, promises, purposes, and power.

We see this in each of the following passages, the call to wait and rest is based on God’s character and His faithfulness. Read and meditate on these:

Psalm 52:8-9

Psalm 62:1-12

Psalm 37:7-9

Psalm 39:7

Lamentations 3:25

Psalm 62:5-8

Isaiah 8:17

Discuss this: What does our ability or inability to wait possibly indicate about our knowledge of the Word and our trust in the character of God? How might both effect our waiting even now? How can we learn to wait well even now?

 

The ability to wait on the Lord stems from being confident and focused on who God is and in what God is doing.