What If God's Goodness Is Found in the Waiting?

Have you ever found yourself saying, “If I can only get past this? Once I get past this…” But what if God is found in the waiting, in the interlude, in the “this” of our situation?

The waiting period,
the interlude,
the pause,
is so utterly painstakingly hard for me. I’m a go getter, problem-solver, let’s get it done kind of person.

You even seeing it in my hobbies of choice. I’ve tried knitting, scrapbooking and even crotcheting but I can’t. These hobbies involve multiple days, weeks and sometimes months of waiting to get to the end product. I just can’t. So I would rather run, bike, hike, and race cars on the side. I’m only joking about the car racing.

But it would totally fit because I naturally long to get to the end goal–fast. I’m ready to be at the mountain summit. To the finish line. To the resolution. To the healing. To the end prize. To the answer.

What if?

Let’s take a look at David in the midst of Psalms 27:

“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

But what if the “Lord’s goodness” that David is talking about is found right here in the waiting?

Not at the finish line, not the end product, not the job promotion, not the healing, not the child following Jesus, not in the restored relationship but right here in the waiting.

What if the “Lord’s goodness” I am waiting to see is actually right here in the smack dab middle of the chaos, the waiting, the loss, and the confusion.

Right here in the middle of the rocky sandy road with no sight of home. This is where David finds himself in Psalms 27 in trouble. I’m not sure what the exact events of his life are since the various commentaries I read had different views but what I do know is he was suffering.

God wastes nothing.”

Rushing Past the Waiting

One of David’s often quoted verses is nestled in this cry for help. In verse 4 he says, One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord… gaze on his beauty…seek him in his temple.

We often think of waiting as a passive state of being when nothing is being done or said. But in the waiting is where the work of the Lord is happening in you. Often the interlude, the waiting period is hard so we want to rush past it but what if God wants us to stay and sit at His feet in the middle of the waiting. In the waiting he wants us to gaze on Him, seek Him, abide, dwell in His presence… Allowing God’s strength and courage to unfold in our life.

Lord I’ve tried to frantically get to the end goal in my own strength but it has gotten me no where. So I join David in his wail as he looks up to the mountain and REMEMBERS where his help comes from.

As He catches a glimpse of YOU, his spiritual amnesia loses its grip.

God wastes nothing.