In the Waiting

By default, an element remains to the biblical narrative of hope; it’s in the waiting.

Now, this isn’t the type of waiting reminiscent of a long line for a security check at the airport, counting the minutes until a monotonous class period is over, or even the hours you’ve spent sitting at the Department of Motor Vehicles. No; it’s not a boring pondering or a begrudging immobile state.

A reciting of Genesis will last about 60 seconds before the word ‘wait’ appears for the first time in scripture. Believe it or not, it was not people who waited, but the waters.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered [wait: qia’wu] together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
Genesis 1:9

In obedience to God’s command, the waters waited together. Most translations use the word gathered, but the word is waited. The language used in the Hebrew paints a picture that the waters waited for God’s plan to go into action, in hopeful expectation He would speak again. The word qia’wu comes from the root word mikveh, which means a collection or hopeful gathering.

From the beginning, waiting on God to move has a hopeful expectation attached to it.

From the timeline of redemptive history, the patriarch Abraham was acquainted with the waiting. The journey sent him into the unknown, leaving the comfortability of a land his forefathers had settled in for generations. In the movement of this expectation, another wait-for-it promise was given for his elderly wife to bear a son. This took so long that he gave up, took matters into his own hands by his maidservant, and yet still God answered the promise through Sarah in the birth of Isaac.

Even if Abraham’s ‘yes’ to waiting was weak, it was real. God knew that. He knew the sincerity of his heart, and despite all we read about his impatience, Abraham’s name is renowned in the Hall of Faith.

Like Abraham, our waiting might not always look perfect. We might not always trust and feel we still have hope to press forward, but if God was able to overcome the wavering waiting of Abraham, can He not do it with us too? Even if your hope is lacking, know that His is not. Wait on the Lord, and He’ll continually renew your strength. He’s done it before, and He’ll do it again.

Reflection

What is your biblical understanding of the word ‘wait’? How can you actively wait on the Lord this week so that the door is open for Him to come in and renew your strength? Take a moment to pray and wait on the Lord.