You’re in God’s waiting room (1)

When you’re in a doctor’s waiting room, there are things you shouldn’t do—like try to treat other patients or have them treat you. Or ask the receptionist for a stethoscope or a blood pressure cuff. And it wouldn’t be wise to ask the person sitting next to you, “What prescriptions are you taking? Perhaps I could try them.” It’s called a waiting room because you’re supposed to wait. But we don’t like to wait. We weave through traffic looking for a faster lane. We drum our fingers on the countertop while the microwave heats our coffee: “Come on, come on.” We don’t like to wait for anything, including God. Over and over in Scripture when it speaks about our relationship with God, the word wait keeps showing up. And here’s what we fail to understand: while we are waiting, God is working. Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work” (John 5:17 NIV). The sign on God’s waiting room reads, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). You can be still because He is active, and you can rest because He is busy. To wait, biblically speaking, is not to assume the worst or worry or fret or make demands or take control. Waiting is not inactivity. Waiting is sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and faith. To wait is to “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him…not fret.” God is the Great Physician. You are in His waiting room. He knows what ails you better than you do, and He has a prescription to fix it. So trust Him and wait.