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The Weight of Waiting by Kristy Wakefield Having just graduated from grad school, I am in a season of searching for what comes next for my life. I currently work a job that serves as my "in-between" while I apply for many jobs that struggle to seem like the "right fit." I find myself in a place of honest uncertainty about the future...while simply searching to find some answers. I am recently beginning to learn more about the weight of waiting on the Lord. Patience in waiting tends to not come natural for most us. Take a newborn baby for example, from the moment they enter the world they are screaming for their needs to be immediately met. As a child, remember the painful gap of time between the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve that seemed to last forever, as you impatiently waited for Christmas Day? How about that wait for graduation day; how’s that going for you? Or how about the times when life hurts...joy seems so far away. When waiting is what God has for us, our response to waiting can lead to shame and confusion or faith in His promises. We can respond to waiting in frustration with the challenges that waiting brings, tempting us to give up. Or we might impulsively jump on whatever opportunity seems to remove us from waiting, only to find we took a detour that ended with us more lost than we began! The Bible has a lot of say about waiting. In Psalm 130:5, the psalmist writes, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope." A little conclusion we can draw from this verse is illustrated below...along with a small sample of what His Word has to say about the weight of waiting. Waiting - > involves Patience How? - > through Hope (faith in future tense) Where do Hope and Faith come from? - > The Word of God (especially in His promises) "For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."" - Isaiah 30:15 "Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him." - Isaiah 30:18 "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him." - Isaiah 64:4 "but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31 "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 "(1) For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. (5) For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. (8) Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us." - Psalm 62:1, 5, 8 What a relief it is to know that we are allowed to wait in a world that we often mistakenly expect instant gratification, a world that we feel such disappointment in when instant gratification is not the way things happen, especially when it comes to the (seemingly) most important things in life. But more than "allowed" we are blessed to wait on the Lord and God is more than faithful to be trusted and is exalted to act for those who wait!