Consider the time spent waiting in traffic, on line in the bank and the grocery store, sitting in the doctor’s office, waiting for medical test results, being put on hold, and let’s not forget waiting for the delivery or service man to show up some time between 8:00 am and 12 noon.

The truth is, waiting is a part of everyday life, a part of life that people seldom enjoy.  It doesn’t matter if what we are waiting for is good or bad, we don’t want to wait.  Diane and I have been waiting six months to hold our grandson Matthew, and even though we only have five more days to wait, it can’t come fast enough.

Ask Sarah’s parents or for that matter any parent how much they enjoyed waiting for the birth of their baby.  When they first found out they were pregnant there was excitement.  Then there was all the preparation.  Buying baby things, decorating the nursery, picking out names and then there was the WAIT.  With each passing day the joy of pregnancy became a labor of love and endurance.  The baby grew as did discomfort and impatience.  Hopes and wishes became desperate prayers that the baby would not be late. Towards the end of the pregnancy when people asked when the baby was due, instead of just giving the date you added the suffix ‘I can’t wait.’

The birth of the baby did not end the “I can’t waits.” No, soon enough it was “I can’t wait until the baby sleeps through the night, rolls over, talks, walks, is potty trained, etc, etc.

Why is it that all too often we want to rush our children's development?  If we stopped long enough to think about what we were saying, we would never say it or wish it.  Just think how many premature babies would be born if each child was born at the mother’s first signs of impatience with her pregnancy? Just think how those ‘I can’t waits turn into lament filled ‘I can’t believe she is going off to college.’ Where did the time go?

To often our lives are reflected in the story of the man who was watching a butterfly break out from its cocoon.  As he watched the butterfly struggle to break out he became impatient.  Thinking he could help the butterfly with its struggle and speed the process up he took a pocket knife and cut free the butterfly.  However instead of the butterfly taking flight, the butterfly fell to the ground fluttered its wings and died.  Such was the price of not waiting.

Have you ever paid a price for not waiting?

Perhaps you tried to fix something instead of waiting for the repair person to come and you made matters worse.  Maybe you tried to do a two person job solo and the unfortunate results confirmed you needed two people.  Is it possible that you have ignored the good advice to wait?

If you are familiar with the story of the Israelite King Saul recorded in 1 Samuel 13, you might remember that Saul was told to wait for Samuel, the high priest before he went into battle against the Philistines.  The high priest Samuel was to offer a sacrifice to God before Saul and his army went to battle. Saul waited seven days but under the pressure from the approaching Philistines, Saul stopped waiting and offered the sacrifice himself.  Saul no sooner offered that sacrifice when Samuel arrived.  What have you done?, asked Samuel.  What Saul did was against God’s law and against the specific instructions of Samuel.  Instead of waiting Saul took matters into his own hands and disobeyed God.  Offering a sacrifice to God is a good thing, but Saul did it the wrong way.

This is not the only story in the Bible where men and women got tired of waiting and took matters into their own hands to attain their goals.  Another classic example is Abraham.  In spite of the fact hat God promised himself descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens.  He got tired of waiting for Sara to have a baby, so he got Sara's handmaiden pregnant, who gave birth to Ishmael.   Ishmael grew up to be an enemy of Abraham’s son Isaac, who was born to Sara a few years later.  The bitter rivalry between Ishmael and Isaac is still being fought out today in the Middle East.  If only Abraham had waited patiently for the Lord.

I will be the first one to admit that waiting for God to help or intervene is not always easy.   Nor does waiting on God guarantee you that you will get the results that you desire.

However, Psalm 40 does tell us what waiting on God does provide.

“I waited patiently for the Lord;
He turned to me and heard my cry.

Many will see and fear and
put their trust in the Lord.

David received four benefits from waiting. God

What God did for David, He desires to do for you and me.  God wants to transport you and me from hopelessness and helplessness to security and safety.  This requires that you and I must wait patiently at times for God.

Waiting is not easy. But waiting on God always comes with a promise.  The prophet Isaiah echoes the promise and the truth that David proclaimed about the benefits of waiting on God.