Joy in Waiting
Isaiah 30:18b
For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
We don’t typically associate waiting with happiness, do we? Just this past week, my phone shattered and I drove to the store to get a new one, only to have to wait three hours behind a couple who seemed ambivalent to my presence. Later, while driving home, there was an awful accident on the highway and I got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for what felt like an eternity, maybe longer. These are petty examples, I know, but they struck me as I pondered Isaiah’s promise here that blessing in the Lord comes through patience. Between believing and doing, faith is the art of waiting. That’s why Paul writes in Philippians 3:20-21a: “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…”; and then in Romans 8:23b, “we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies…”.
So friend, whether your journey of faith today feels like an open road or another traffic jam, lift your eyes to Heaven and trust—wait—smile!