What are You Waiting For?
Most of us do not like waiting.
We wait in traffic, in checkout lines, and in doctors’ offices. We wait for phone calls, test results, opportunities, healing, clarity, and change. Sometimes we wait for life to finally feel stable again. Sometimes we wait for God to do something, anything to show us what comes next.
The disciples understood that feeling.
In Acts 1, Jesus had risen from the dead. The disciples had witnessed miracles, encountered the resurrected Christ, and heard Jesus speak about the Kingdom of God. Naturally, they assumed the waiting was over. So they asked Him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
In other words, “Is now finally the moment?”
But instead of giving them a timeline, Jesus gave them a promise.
He told them that it was not for them to know the times or periods the Father had established. Then He instructed them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before the preaching, before the miracles, before the explosive growth of the Church, there would first be a season of waiting.
That may not sound very exciting, but waiting has always been one of God’s favorite classrooms.
Throughout Scripture, God’s people often experienced seasons of waiting before stepping into something new. Abraham waited for a son. Joseph waited in prison. Israel waited in exile. The women waited at the tomb. The disciples waited together in an upstairs room.
And many of us are waiting right now.
Some are waiting for healing. Others are waiting for direction, peace, reconciliation, or hope. Some are waiting for grief to ease or for God to open a door that seems firmly shut. Waiting touches every part of our lives, and it rarely feels comfortable.
Part of what makes waiting so difficult is that it feels unproductive. We want movement. We want certainty. We want answers. Yet Scripture reminds us that God often does some of His deepest work in the seasons where it appears nothing is happening at all.
The disciples did not spend their waiting time panicking or walking away. Acts tells us they gathered together constantly in prayer. They remained connected to one another. They stayed faithful even though they did not fully understand what God was about to do next.
That may be one of the most important lessons in this passage: waiting is not wasting.
Sometimes we assume that if we cannot see progress, then God must not be working. But God is often preparing us in hidden ways before leading us into what comes next. The waiting room can become a prayer room. The uncertainty can become a place of trust. The silence can become a place where we finally learn to listen.
We may not control God’s timing, but we can choose how we wait. We can wait with bitterness or with expectancy. We can wait isolated or in community. We can wait anxiously or prayerfully.
The good news is that God has never abandoned His people in the waiting seasons.
The disciples eventually discovered that God’s delay was not God’s denial. Pentecost was coming. Power was coming. Mission was coming. But before any of that happened, God was teaching them to trust Him.
Maybe that is where you are today.
Maybe you are frustrated because life is not unfolding according to your plans or timeline. Maybe you are asking, “How long, Lord?” Acts 1 reminds us that even when we cannot yet see what God is doing, God is still at work.
And perhaps the question is not only, “What am I waiting for?”
Perhaps the deeper question is, “What is God preparing me for while I wait?”
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
Prayer
Lord, waiting is difficult. We want quick answers and immediate clarity, but Your timing is often different from ours. Teach us to trust You in uncertain seasons. Help us to wait with faith, patience, prayer, and hope. Form us in the waiting, and prepare us for whatever You are calling us into next. Amen.
