Workout #4: Learn to Wait

Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Jude 21

Once you see how important the theme of waiting is in the Bible, you’ll have new motivation to exercise this neglected area of the Christian life. Here are five passages on waiting:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. (Ps. 37:7)

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. (Ps. 130:5-6)

They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength. (Is. 40:31)

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven. (1 Thes. 1:9-10)

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. (Heb. 9:28)

Waiting seems to be a complete waste of time, so we often look for something to do while we’re waiting. That’s why there are magazines in the doctor’s waiting room. We try to fill up the time with something useful.

We think of waiting as something to endure in order to get what we want. But God speaks about waiting as the way we grow when we don’t have what we want. Waiting is not wasted time.

Waiting can be the greatest growth opportunity of your life.

What are you waiting for right now? Do you see this waiting as the greatest growth opportunity of your life, a waste of time, or something else?