Waiting Isn't a Waste: The Surprising Comfort of Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life

by Mark Vroegop

Putting this together, we can see that biblical waiting is connected to what we’re looking for or where we place our trust. In this way, the gaps of life present an opportunity for faith. Sometimes the translators use “hope” for the same word translated as “wait” in other verses (see Ps. 69:6; Isa. 8:17; Jer. 14:22). That’s because waiting and hope are overlapping ideas. To wait is to look with hope.

Waiting for information creates a painful gap. It’s hard because understanding what is happening gives us a sense of control. Uncertainty reveals vulnerability.

Have you ever considered that God could have immediately raised Jesus from the dead after he cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30)? Instead, a time of waiting—days of grief, confusion, and fear—was built into the divine plan.

Waiting requires living by what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.

Understanding the biblical connection between wait and hope invites us to shift our focus from what’s not true about our lives to what is true about God. In other words, waiting biblically is seeing seasons of delay as opportunities to hope in God.

Waiting in this context isn’t something that happens to you; it’s an intentional way of life as a Christian.

It shows me that patience starts by simply waiting more than what I’ve wanted or expected.

Patience is formed by letting go of what I thought was going to be true about my life.

Patience is formed by embracing the tension of waiting.

allow His Holy Spirit to waken and stir up in your soul the child-like disposition of absolute dependence and confident expectation. Wait upon God as a Living Being, as the Living God, who notices you, and is just longing to fill you with His salvation.6

Embracing waiting facilitates spiritual maturity and intimacy with God.