We Keep Waiting...

Scripture: Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Observations:

Application:
When I think of waiting, it reminds me of my childhood.  My aunt, uncle, and cousin lived in Alabama and we only saw them every few months.  When they would come to visit, I remember waiting eagerly for them to get to our house.  I can picture my sister and I pressing our noses against the glass on the front door of our Scenic Drive house looking out and waiting for them to arrive.

I remember waiting outside that same door for my big sister to arrive.  My dad had been in Guatemala for about 6 weeks and my mom for a week or so, working out the final arrangements for her adoption.  I remember pacing up and down the sidewalk with excitement to meet my big sister for the first time.  I remember anticipating her arrival as a miracle, because it was so extraordinary that a first child would get a big sister.  We had waited for months, and now the last few minutes seemed like an eternity.

I remember waiting waiting for my friends to come over-- I think it was my 9th birthday-- to have a glamour shots sleep over party.  Mom had hung a backdrop and bought make-up and found old prom dresses and plugged in every curling iron and set of hot rollers she could get her hands on.  And I couldn't wait to tease our hair, put on bright lipstick, and pose for the camera.

There is a difference in this kind of waiting and the kind that is described in Romans 8:25 though.  The verse right before it says, "But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?"  In all of these circumstances, I "already had" the thing I was waiting on.  Barring something completely tragic happening, I knew for certain those things were coming.  I was just waiting on time to pass but I knew the outcome I was hoping for was in fact coming.

The kind of waiting that Romans 8:25 is describing is waiting with full confidence even though we have no idea what the outcome will be.  The Blue Letter Bible translates the word patiently as "the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and loyalty by even the greatest trials and suffering."  In other words, no matter what struggle we're going through, we wait.  We wait with deliberate purpose-- our eternal purpose-- God's glory.

When we've been praying for healing for a family member's emotional scars as long as we can remember, we keep waiting…
When we've been praying for the war between our parents to end forever, we keep waiting…
When we've been praying for our loved one's deliverance from addiction for years, we keep waiting...
When we've been praying for the cancer to go away, we keep waiting…
When we've been praying for the relationship we've always desired, we keep waiting…
When we've been praying for a child, we keep waiting…
When we've been praying for our dream job, we keep waiting…
When we've been praying for our own deliverance from depression or anxiety or insecurity, we keep waiting...

...with full confidence of God's deliberate purpose.  We keep waiting… with that same anticipation… with our noses pressed up against the glass.

Prayer:
God, please give me that kind of patience!  I want the kind of patience that doesn't even swerve when times get hard.  I was to keep true to my "deliberate purpose and loyalty"-- your glory.  God, grow me beyond just hoping when I am pretty sure what the outcome will be.  Teach me to trust even when I can't see your plan at all.  Help me to keep waiting with full confidence.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!