More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Mark Vroegop
Read between
May 14 - June 12, 2025
As I write these words, I am waiting. I would imagine you are too. I’m waiting for a child to return from a very long stay overseas,
And we never endure the nerve-wracking wait of getting lost on the way to our destination.
to fill the void of uncertainty by waiting on God.
As a result, we tend to view the gaps of life as something—at best—to be tolerated.
our tendency is to fill the gaps of life with fear, anxiety, frustration, or anger.
For most of us, waiting feels like a waste.
But in the process of not wasting my life, I wasted something else: my waiting.
I needed to stop wasting my waiting.
Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.
Waiting feels like a gap in time that’s annoying at best and aggravating at worst.
Waiting is good. What’s more, waiting is commanded. Let that sink in.
God fills that gap with himself, his plans, or his promises.
“To wait is to journey in faith toward the things God has promised.”
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.
“This is the blessedness of waiting upon God, that it takes our eyes and thoughts away from ourselves, even our needs and desires, and occupies us with our God.”
it means embracing the gaps in life as an opportunity to place our hope in God.
Waiting reveals what we hope in.
“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent [or wait]” (Ex. 14:14).
A failure to wait can lead to spiritual decline
And where do you turn when uncertainty, fear, or anxiety becomes overwhelming?
Sometimes we don’t get waiting right because we’re not prepared for how hard it is.
Waiting for information creates a painful gap. It’s hard because understanding what is happening gives us a sense of control. Uncertainty reveals vulnerability.
You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
God provides what we need on his timeline. He gives daily bread. He provides daily grace. You can’t buy manna in bulk.
“waiting for God is one of the central experiences of the Christian life.”
For now, consider this: waiting is what you do when you can’t do what you want to do.
My wife and I were sitting in our sunroom early in the morning for our daily check-in.
“God’s going to help you. He has to.”
We are sure that the Lord will continue his blessings to his people. He does not give and take. What he has granted us is the token of much more.
Waiting requires living by what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.
But at a deeper level, waiting reveals what we believe about ourselves and about God. It challenges our dreams, expectations, and abilities. Waiting is a frequent and often painful reminder that we’re not in control.
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 on God is how we respond to difficult delays.
From a biblical perspective, to wait is to hope. To wait is to trust. To wait is to have faith. This requires courage.
One of the chief needs in our waiting upon God, one of the deepest secrets of its blessedness and blessing, is a quiet, confident persuasion that it is not in vain; courage to believe that God will hear and help.5 To wait on God is to believe that he will help you.
while I don’t have an answer, I’m where God wants me to be because I’m focused on him.
FAST: focus, adore, seek, and trust.
the loss of control becomes a means of spiritual growth.
This hopeful, trusting posture is expressed in Psalm 27 as well: I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (vv. 13–14)
Waiting requires patience beyond my expectations.
The psalm ends with a hopeful urgency. It embraces who God is (take note!)
It shows me that patience starts by simply waiting more than what I’ve wanted or expected.
However, what if patience simply means to not quit or give in?
Patience is formed by letting go of what I thought was going to be true about my life. I waited and waited and waited for the Lord.
Perseverance is not the result of our determination; it is the result of God’s faithfulness.
Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God’s righteousness and less and less attention to our own;
Think about a scenario where you waited longer than you expected, but where you also experienced God’s provision and help. It’s easy to forget these important moments.
Mapping God’s faithfulness fuels waiting patiently.
It’s not a violation of patience to pray with faith-filled imagination regarding what you desire God to do.
Instead of dreaming about what you could be doing instead of waiting or how much better your life would be without this challenge, use your imagination to fuel your faith.
