The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:25-26 KJV
“Island shrouded in heavy fog—am going on.” That was Richard Haliburton’s last radio message before he sailed into oblivion. Haliburton was an adventurer and explorer who was attempting to sail from Hong Kong to San Francisco in a Chinese junk. He intended to stop in Taiwan for supplies, but when he approached the island, he could not see light and assumed that it was shrouded in fog. It wasn’t, but he didn’t know that. The lights had been blanketed in a practice air-raid drill, and sailing on was a fatal mistake. He was lost at sea. Richard Haliburton’s impatience cost him his life. Had he only waited for guidance, he would have made his destination. James McConkey was right when he wrote, “Haste is the parent of 9/10ths of our mistakes ….”
But waiting seems to be so contrary to the path of progress. Today we’re generally convinced that doing about anything is better than doing nothing. Waiting, however, is not doing nothing. It is positive action that prepares you for the right choice in the future. It is awaiting God’s timing which may save you from a tragic mistake. “There is an appointed time for everything,” wrote Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Awaiting the right time is never easy, but as Martin Luther wrote, “He who waits on God wastes no time.”
Friend, I’m not sure about you, but waiting has never been one of those virtues with which I was born. Perhaps, you, too, have found that learning to wait is a difficult task. One of the great differences between the way we think and the way that God thinks is that His thinking is not influenced by time; consequently, God is never in a hurry to do anything. But we’re not like that. We must learn to live on His timetable—not ours. Reading through the pages of Scripture, you will discover that God has always had to teach His children to learn to wait for His timing. David, Solomon, Job, Micah, Isaiah, the Apostle Paul—they all wrote about the importance of waiting and thought of it as positive, not negative. But when God’s people were overthrown by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, many thought that God had turned His back on them and forsaken them. Yet God said, “I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Waiting on God’s timing—is not wasted time but running ahead of God’s timing can bring ruin to your life. It brings our restless hearts into conformity with God’s plan and prepares us for what He has before us. Jeremiah, the prophet, wrote, “The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good for a man that he should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD,” (Lamentations 3:25-26). Friend, what’s your rush? What’s your hurry? God has a timing in everything. And when He sets an open door before you, no one can close it.
Waiting demands that you acknowledge the fact: God is fully in control. “They who wait on the Lord …,” wrote Isaiah, “shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they will walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). May God forgive us of our restless impatience. Yes, there is a time for everything under the sun.
Resource Reading: Isaiah 40:25-31
