God’s Waiting Room

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Who hasn’t been in a waiting room at one time or another? Most of our waiting room experiences are in doctor’s offices. You enter the office and report to the nurse or secretary you’re there for your appointment. She responds by telling you to be seated until the doctor can see you. Then begins your long journey of waiting. Waiting is hard, especially in a doctor’s office. You usually don’t feel good and are uncomfortable waiting in a semi-hard chair reading five-month-old magazines that you would never buy yourself. You’d rather be home in bed sleeping or laying on the couch watching an old movie.

 

Sometimes it’s hard waiting in the doctor’s office because you’re just there for your annual physical. You feel okay and you have better things to do. Why should you be there exposing yourself to all the sick people where infected hands have touched every surface available. You’re also concerned that even though you feel good now, possibly you won’t feel as well after you see the doctor because he might just find something wrong. Waiting is difficult because you are somewhere you don’t want to be, but need to be. Waiting is unnerving because the flow of your life has been interrupted. It is stressful because it is full of unknowns. It is uncomfortable because often it is physically and emotionally draining. How much longer will you have to wait? Will your waiting prove to be beneficial when you’re finished waiting? Waiting is tough business.

 

God has a waiting room. It’s not a small room filled with old magazines and sick people but it is a spiritual waiting area where spiritual growth and maturity can be developed. It’s that place you go when you have an unfulfilled need you want God to fill. It’s that place you seek when you have been hurt and want God to soothe your wounds. It’s that place you run to when you’re helpless and feel hopeless. It’s that place you hunker down when life’s huge merciless thumb presses down hard and heavy upon your spirit. It’s that place you find when you need advice and have exhausted your human resources. It’s a place you fall into when you realize that you are utterly dependent on God for everything and you’re in a crisis. Waiting is tough business, even in God’s waiting room.

 

It is difficult for us to wait because we are impatient, insecure and lack trust. You would think that we would love to wait in a room prepared by our Heavenly Father. I mean after all, He’s the Creator of the Universe, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He has victory over death and there is nothing He cannot do. He provides for all our needs and has given us salvation as a free gift. Who better to trust than God Himself? Unfortunately God’s waiting room is not always pleasant because we haven’t learned how to wait on Him.

 

In earthly waiting rooms we just sit. In God’s waiting room sometimes we learn to rest in Him, but often we are called to action as well. I believe while we wait on God we are always called to prayer. We may be dealing with a terminal illness, we may be in a financial crisis, we may be going through an emotional relationship issue, but whatever the reason when we are in God’s spiritual waiting room we can always seek Him in prayer. We are to pray for comfort, for answers, for resolution, for our needs, for advice, for intervention, for a miracle.

 

In God’s waiting room we are to seek to minister to others. This not only gets us off our duff, it also gets our selfish focus off ourselves and onto the needs of others. In God’s waiting room when we wait for God to answer our prayers of petition we can be accomplishing great works to build His Kingdom and bring Him great glory and honor through serving others. When we serve others in our weakness God fills us with His power. God made us for ministry, even when we are waiting on Him.

 

In God’s waiting room I believe if at all possible we are also to seek to use the resources He has given us to take action. Yes, He can and often does intervene in our lives miraculously, but He also expects us to use our mind, skills, talents and abilities to work towards solving our situation. God is not a candy man who bestows upon us everything we seek whenever we ask. He knows we will grow by seeing His miraculous provision but He also knows we will mature spiritually while waiting on Him if we take action with His guidance. Guidance from God comes through prayer, listening to His Holy Spirit, reading God’s Word and seeking wise counsel from others who serve our Savior and Lord.

 

In God’s waiting room great strides are often made in our spiritual growth. Through the toil and hardship of waiting we grow in our trust and faith of Him and His Word. Waiting is a blessing when we center our thoughts on scripture. Waiting is beneficial when we seek to listen more closely to the whispers of God’s Spirit. Waiting is productive when we understand that God works through our actions to bring us His solutions. Waiting is useful for establishing our hope in our Heavenly Father as our provider. Possibly that is what determines how we handle our waiting period. Do we have hope?

 

Without hope we lose ourselves in the depression of the moment. We faint and stumble. We look to our own abilities and resources. Hope in the Lord is the medicine we need during a time of waiting. Hope was evident in Paul’s life as he shared with the Corinthians his struggles during his ministry. Listen to his words in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11.

 

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.”

 

Paul was in God’s waiting room waiting for God to direct him in ministry but he was not a couch potato. He was out and about doing the Lord’s work. His words ring strong of stress, discomfort and hardship, but they also resound with hope, trust and faith in the Lord. Hope in the Lord enables you to cope with waiting, but it also spurs you on to good works and a solution. Scripture tells us that faith in God is necessary to have the hope we need while we wait. This can only be accomplished if we have God’s Spirit living within us. Galatians 5:5 says, “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.”  Christians are all waiting for entry into heaven and the full experience of being in the presence of God. This is our hope. This hope rests in the unshakable character and ability of our Heavenly Father. Our hope, faith and trust rests in the God we have as a Savior.

 

Psalms 27:13 gives us encouragement when it says, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” And Psalms 37:34 states,  “Wait for the LORD and keep His way.” Isaiah 26:8 illustrates the importance of God’s Word in waiting when it says, “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”

 

Believe it or not, God can ask us to wait for Him because He waits for us. Think about it. How long has He waited for you to work through issues in your life? How long has He waited for you to release yourself to the control of His Spirit? How patient has He been when you have at times rebelled against Him and His Word? Most of us would have given up on ourselves a long, long time ago. God is patiently waiting for us to respond to His love and guidance. God has perfect patience. Do you know what that means? He will always, always wait the appropriate amount of time before taking action. His timing is perfect, because He is perfect. He knows when to intervene and to what degree to be involved. He knows what is best for us. Knowing He is our hope and that His Spirit lives within us as a Believer, we can patiently wait knowing we can trust Him and can feel secure in His timing for the answer to our reason for waiting in His waiting room.

 

Romans 8:22-25

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”