My hope is that you never have to experience the lack of control that comes with sitting in a Waiting Room; however, few people will ever be exempt from this experience, whether it arrives as a painless encounter such as awaiting a tire rotation at a local service station or the agonizing hours that slowly tick away as you wait for a doctor to arrive with an update on someone you love. Many of these Waiting Room moments will pass with little impact on us personally, professionally, or spiritually. We learn to develop patience for standing in lines, we anticipate test scores, and we hone our coping skills to deal with the stress of a traffic delay.

One of the bright spots of these inconveniences that require waiting is that they typically have a defined end point. At some designated time, hopefully in the near future, your route will drive you around the traffic jam, you will complete your purchase in the check out line, and a professor will return your graded essay. But, how do you handle the situation when the Waiting Room you are in seems endless and a new door never appears to open?

Throughout various Seasons of Life, there may arrive moments when we are forced into a Waiting Room for a great deal longer than we prefer, and with no timeframe for when the opportunity to open the door and leave behind the anxiousness might arrive. Jentezen Franklin shares in Acres of Diamonds that it “took 35 years for Standard Time to be enacted by legislation for the entire United States and for people to fall in line with the new standard. What about you? Have you fallen in line with God’s clock? That’s whose time we really need to know…Get on God’s clock.” I’m not sure what your experiences are, but even though I know beyond a shadow of doubt that He has good reasons for having me pause in the Waiting Room, I would prefer He follow my schedule rather than to Trust and Obey His clock!

In a previous post entitled Chronos vs. Kairos, I address the difference between our clocks and God’s clock; and Franklin reminds us, “When He wants us to do something on His clock, He beckons, Come out of your comfort zone and trust me. You have enough to do it right now. I may not give you ‘the coast is clear’ for the next two years, but right now, in this very moment, I want you to trust Me.” Being risk adverse, I want to see the entire plan before I decide to trust. I do not have an entrepreneurial spirit that jumps into the Deep End; I’m more comfortable wading in from the Shallow End, yet I know I’m not living a flourishing life if I don’t sync my clock to His. I’m not likely to receive the “all clear” that I desperately desire; I’m going to be required to take a risk. “Many times we want absolute certainty before we step out, a 100 percent money-back guarantee. But having this certainty takes the element of faith out of the equation, and you cannot experience success without risking failure. Sometimes faith is spelled R-I-S-K. The Greek word for ‘opportunity’ is Kairos, which also suggests that something is time sensitive.”

If, like me, you long to leave the Waiting Room and enter the best, next door that God opens, may we all be reminded of the words of Marvin Williams, “If we find ourselves in a season of waiting, may we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah with fresh ears: ‘Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’ (Isaiah 40:31). As we await Jesus’ return, He provides the hope and strength we need for each new day.”

Please feel free to share in the comments below a time when you were asked to spend aching hours in a Waiting Room and what helped encourage you to be patient and endure.

References:

Franklin, J. (2020). Acres of diamonds: Discovering God’s best right where you are. Chosen Books.

Williams, M. (2021, February 10).”Waiting in Hope.” Our Daily Bread. Retrieved from https://odb.org/US/2021/02/10/waiting-in-hope