How Do You Wait?
“Waiting is particularly hard for us today because our culture teaches us not to wait. We live in a micro-waving, Fed-Exing, fast-food-eating, high-speed Internet-ing world… But some of the hardest times to wait is on God.” – Tony Walliser
Read Luke 2:25-30
How Do You Wait?
We sometimes hear that our society has a weight problem, but more than that, we have a “wait problem.” We don’t want to wait for anything, whether we’re stuck in traffic, sitting in a doctor’s office, anticipating delivery of something we ordered online, or having to reboot a computer. Even restaurants have done away with “waiters” – now we call them “servers.”
Have you ever prayed earnestly for something, but God’s answer seemed slow in coming? Maybe it was for a new job, or a much-needed pay raise or bonus. Or for that special person who would become your wife. Or for a beloved family member suffering from a serious illness. Or a general sense of direction for your life. Waiting is hard!
Can you imagine what it must have been like for Simeon? He was a godly man who had lived a long life, eagerly awaiting a promise he had received from God’s Holy Spirit. The promise was that he would not die until he saw the long-awaited Messiah. If Simeon had received this promise and had to wait a week or two, or maybe a few months, it wouldn’t have been so difficult. But waiting an entire lifetime?
The question is, how could Simeon remain steadfast and wait so faithfully for so long? In the passage from the 2nd chapter of Luke, we find three key principles: he walked with the Lord, he held tightly to the promises he’d learned from Scripture, and he never forgot about God’s unwavering goodness.
This doesn’t mean all those years of waiting were easy. But knowing God, clinging to His promises, and trusting in His goodness did make it easier. Then came the day when Simeon could declare, “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You may now dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation.” What an overwhelmingly joyous moment that must have been for Simeon.
Today we again are waiting for the Messiah – His promised second coming. It could be tomorrow, or it could be one year or 20 years from now. But like Simeon, we must wait in faith, knowing and trusting that the Lord’s promises never fail.
In the meantime, we find ourselves waiting for other things, like those listed above. Whether it involves our work, our families, our finances, our health, or a myriad of other concerns, our patience may seem stretched to the max. Which is why the promises from the Scriptures are so important. As we’re told in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Psalm 37:7 instructs us, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” We can be assured that God will answer our prayers, whatever they are, in His perfect way and time.