This is a concept I don’t know if we teach very often anymore. It’s not a popular topic in church. We certainly are not teaching waiting or patience in our society. It’s a simple concept, the idea of waiting. Yet rejected by many in our everything is a right now thing mentality. We pay to not have to watch commercials because we don’t want to wait to see what happens next. We binge watch whole series that took years to film, it’s about convenience and not having to wait. We get frustrated at restaurants if they seem to take too long. We are hungry now and we want our needs immediately met. Even waiting at a red light for just a few minutes is an inconvenience for most of us. All of us are in such a hurry, we just can’t wait for anything, we don’t want to wait, and we choose to do anything to not have to wait. I want and you can fill in the blank and I want it now. It’s a silly commercial but it’s true. In this instantaneous world, even as a believer we have been affected. We also come to God and say I want my need to be met right now. But God is not a short order cook taking our order and rushing the delivery because we demand it. No, he does things in his time and in his way. So as a believer we have to learn to wait. We have to learn to wait on God.

One of the fruits of the spirit is patience. I have said before, of all of the fruits of the spirit patience is probably my least favorite. It’s right there at the bottom of the list alongside self-control. I wished oftentimes I could have just been given these things by God, like they could have been included in my nature but that’s not the case. Patience is something that has to grow and develop in us. It is not naturally gifted to humanity or to believers, just in case you think you are better as a believer. It is developed in us, in all of us. As a believer, as the holy spirit works in us, he can grow our patience. We have to be patient as we grow and develop more patience. What an irony and a challenge. What’s the point though? Why do we need patience? Why do we need it as a believer? That is what I want to tackle today. The how, the why, and the benefit of Waiting. I want to discover what is the blessing of our patience?

First, whether we choose patience or not, we cannot rush the Lord and his work. In Acts it says ”It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.” God is the one who sets the times, the seasons, and he makes the plan. It is his hand that moves time not us. So, we have to submit to the sovereignty and authority of God by recognizing that impatience does not move him. God moves as he chooses not as we direct.

You can choose impatience as a believer, and you will then find yourself frustrated, angry even. Yet the fault lies with you. If you trust in God’s wisdom and direction, in his leading then you will wait. You will realize that he is working in his time and for your ultimate benefit whether you can see it happening or not. That he may appear late in your eyes, but he always brings about what he chooses at the perfect time. So, walking in patience is choosing trust. Trusting in who God is, trusting in what he has promised, and trusting in his authority over our life. In this way, waiting on the Lord patiently will allow you to have peace. Instead of anxiously awaiting God to do what you need, you get to rest in the hope of him and all that he will do while you wait.

This is the first benefit of patience – peace while waiting. This is not easy, but it is possible to feel. It is possible to have peace and hope even as we wait. Remember he gives us a peace that passes all understanding. There is another benefit.

In Isaiah 40 it says” to whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? Says the holy one. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Why do you complain Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by God?” Can you see why I just quoted that scripture. They wanted and they needed, it’s OK as god’s people to want and need. God wasn’t moving as they wanted, and they complained. They were feeling impatient. Does this sound familiar? Do we do that when we don’t see God move how we want him to? Try to prod and coerce him into the action you want him to take.

The Scripture goes on to say” do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” So here it says do you not realize who God is. You see that is the point. The thing we have to keep in mind. He is God. That means that he is able and faithful. So we don’t need to worry or struggle. We can know who He is find peace that passes all understanding no matter our circumstances.

Isaiah 40 continues on declaring his promises. The promises of our great God. “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak, even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall but those that hope, that wait upon the lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” Wow, the benefit of waiting is growing in strength, power, and hope. The strength that God gives will sustain you and carry you. It’s almost as if the scripture is getting us to see that we should want to wait on him, to hope in him. That the place of waiting is a place of power and strength. 

This isn’t opposition to the wisdom of the world as God’s wisdom often is. When we get what we want so easily and when we live with everything convenient and quickly satisfy, we actually weaken. This is not the way we should be or should desire to be. We should choose, because of the absolute assurance of God’s power instead of trying to demand, complain or manipulate God to action, to wait on him. Think of how an eagle soars versus a regular bird. The regular bird flaps its wings striving for every inch that they move in the sky. The Eagle spreads its wings and catches the air currents.  It soars. They don’t have to expend energy for every inch. They just catch the wind currents and glide. Do you understand? We need to be like the eagles. Rest and not strive. Spread our wings and trust that he will send the wind and direct us where he needs us to go.

First, the benefit of waiting was peace, a peace that passes all understanding, and now we see that there’s another benefit of power and strength. These benefits are only attained in the waiting. So as much as we think it would be nice to have the instant gratification that we all so often desire, there is something powerful in the life of a believer who waits on the Lord.

My fellow believers, I challenge you to learn to wait as a believer. Wait in hope and trust. Do not wait in complaints and frustration instead choose to have the peace and strength that God promises us while we wait. As it says in Psalms 27: 14” Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Yes, it takes courage to wait. Psalms 130 versus 5 to 6 declares” I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than the Watchmen for the morning.” So, what we need to do is wait and be still and know that he is God.

Praise God, that though we wait, we know and can be confident that we won’t wait forever. Wait expectantly, wait hopefully, and yes wait on the Lord. He is worth the wait. So today let’s get excited about something people don’t get excited about very often. Yes, we get to wait on the Lord, what a privilege and what a blessing!