I am by nature a person of action. If something needs to be done, it should be done NOW. When presented with a problem, my mind immediately goes to work figuring out what I need to do. Sitting quietly does not come easily for me and, if I have a choice, I would rather not wait for anything.

There was a time in my life that I measured the minutes and hours of waiting by the dollar amount my time was worth. As a self employed consultant, I calculated the value of my time by my hourly rate. How much is this traffic delay costing me? What is this wait in the doctor’s office worth?

Whether it is waiting for something small, like the traffic to clear, for something difficult to be over, or for something important that I long for desperately, waiting is hard.

However, the God of the Universe, the Creator of Time, places a different value on waiting. Throughout scripture He called on His people to wait, to trust Him and His timing. It seems that waiting is part of His work in our lives. It is about much more than the passage of time. It has to do with trust, peace, expectancy, and listening for His voice.

In Exodus, we read how God called Moses to come up on the mountain and wait for the tablets of stone.  Moses obeyed and waited for 40 days. He was blessed with the very voice of God speaking to him.

The rest of the Israelites were to wait at the foot of the mountain for him to return. Unfortunately, they grew tired of waiting, made themselves a golden calf to worship, and reaped the consequences.

Every day I face the same choice the Israelites did at the foot of that mountain. Am I going to wait on God’s timing and His will, or am I going to try to take matters into my own hands? All too often, I barge ahead, trying to make things happen instead of waiting for Him.

I have had to learn to wait.  But when I remember to stop and seek God and His timing, I discover the same thing that Moses discovered up on that mountain…

…the Presence of the living God who loves me more than I can comprehend.

God doesn’t work according to my time table. Sometimes the wait is long and the things that I desire the most seem to be impossible. Sometimes there is pain in the waiting.

Yet still He calls me to wait…

…in quietness, listening for His voice…

…with expectation because He is the God who knows the desires of my heart…

…with hope because He is the God of hope…

…with peace because He is there with me in the waiting.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25-26