I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Ps. 27:13–14)
Mark Vroegop is a gift to the church and to Christian community. I posted earlier about his book Weep With Me and now I’m celebrating what a gift his book Waiting Isn’t a Waste is to Christ followers and those they hope to encourage. Weep with Me was all about what it means to lament and Waiting Isn’t a Waste is all about keeping your eyes on Jesus even when we are slogging through hard things and having a hard time keeping our head above water. With both books, it’s about acknowledging that Christ is better and there is purpose in the pain. I’d recommend buying a few copies of this one to have handy for when you and/or those close to you need to be reminded of God’s promises and His faithfulness.
I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below…
- How can we learn to wait on God in a way that leads to transformation and peace? p. 18
- Highlight When you find the word wait in the Bible, it’s important to look for the words it’s pointing toward. A few examples: I waited patiently for the Lord. (Ps. 40:1) My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. (Ps. 69:3) I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. (Ps. 130:5) We find the same thing in the New Testament. Waiting is linked to other words and ideas connected to the activity of God: We wait eagerly for adoption as sons. (Rom. 8:23) . . . waiting for our blessed hope. (Titus 2:13) . . . waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. (2 Pet. 3:12) Putting this together, we can see that biblical waiting is connected to what we’re looking for or where we place our trust. In this way, the gaps of life present an opportunity for faith. p. 23
- Biblical waiting looks to the Lord. Unfortunately, our waiting doesn’t always lead us that direction. We often fill the gaps of life with something else. This struggle with waiting shows us where we place our trust when we’re not in control. Waiting reveals what we hope in. That can be good or bad. And it’s usually hard. p. 24
- Underneath our disdain for waiting is our longing for control. p. 31
- Diagnosing when waiting is hard helps us not to waste it. p. 32
- Chelsea Wald, in her article “Why Your Brain Hates Slowpokes,” identifies that the twentieth century witnessed an increase in communication speed by a factor of ten million and an increase in data transmission speed by a factor of ten billion. That’s a staggering increase. Everything is happening a million times faster. Waiting feels less tolerable. The fast pace of society has thrown our internal timer out of balance. It creates expectations that can’t be rewarded fast enough—or rewarded at all. When things move more slowly than we expect, our internal timer even plays tricks on us, stretching out the wait, summoning anger out of proportion to the delay. p. 38
- If you think about your favorite Bible characters, you’ll find some moments when they lived in an uncomfortable gap. Peter Scazzero highlights a few notable examples: Abraham waited almost twenty-five years for God to follow through on his promise of the birth of Isaac. Joseph waited somewhere between thirteen and twenty-two years to see his family again after being betrayed by his brothers. Moses waited forty years in the desert for God to resurrect a purpose for his life. Hannah waited years for an answer to her prayers for a child. Job waited years, not months, for God to reveal himself, redeem his losses, and take him into a new beginning. John the Baptist and Jesus waited almost thirty years before the Father’s time for their ministries came to fulfillment. Note: emotionally healthy leader p. 39
- To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. (Ps. 25:1–3) p. 40
- I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Ps. 27:13–14) p. 40
- Waiting is what you do when you can’t do what you want to do. p. 42
- To live as a human being in the world means we will have limitations. We can’t control everything. Waiting is common. To be a Christian means there’s spiritual value in seasons of waiting. It’s central to our walk of faith. God designed waiting to be a frequent part of our lives. You can’t buy manna in bulk. p. 45
- Waiting is the spiritual posture of endurance. p. 52
- After my sunroom conversation with my wife, I put this into practice by memorizing Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” p. 58
- Along with numerous journals, I have a Bible that I used for my personal devotional time over several years. After underlining a meaningful verse, I often wrote the date and a particular event next to it. Most of the time, these notes were recorded during seasons of waiting. At the time, writing the notes was a way to reorient my heart, but now the notes serve as a memorial of God’s trustworthiness. When I flip through the pages, I’m reminded how God helped me. I can trace his purposes and his plan with a historical view. The urgency of time and the tension of uncertainty don’t cloud my perspective. I can see the highways and landmarks of his faithfulness. p. 69
- Andrew Murray says, “Let us therefore cultivate the habit of waiting on God, not only for what we think we need, but for all His grace and power are ready to do for us.” p. 71
- Patience is created as we value what God is doing in our life through the tension. p. 73
- Making time for intentional waiting creates a deeper reservoir of patience. p. 77
- Andrew Murray’s Waiting on God. It spoke into my life. While I struggled to be patient, Murray showed me how to make waiting on God a choice, and how it leads to peace: Let us resolve at once that it shall be the one characteristic of our life and worship, a continual, humble, truthful waiting upon God. We may rest assured that He who made us for Himself, that He might give Himself to us and in us, that He will never disappoint us. In waiting on Him we shall find rest and joy and strength and the supply of every need. p. 80
- Waiting for the Lord characterizes those who hope in the Lord. p. 83
- I remember years ago reading Dallas Willard’s book Renovation of the Heart. At the time I had a rather limited view of God’s grace. I saw it as mainly applying to salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Willard helped me expand my view of grace to apply to any way in which I need God’s help and empowerment. He said that it’s not just the ungodly who need grace, but the godly need it too. The greatest saints are not those who need less grace but those who consume the most grace, who indeed are most in need of grace, those who are saturated by grace in every dimension of their being. Grace to them is like breath. p. 84
- Learning to wait on God has been a surprising journey. Along the way, I learned five lessons.
- Disdain for Waiting Is Connected to a Desire for Control
- Embracing waiting confronts my desire for control.
- Waiting Isn’t Getting Easier, Culturally or Personally
- Embracing waiting requires resisting external and internal allurements.
- Waiting on God Is Not Optional for the Christian Life
- Embracing waiting facilitates spiritual maturity and intimacy with God.
- Daily Waiting on God Helps Tame Reactions and Embrace Peace
- Embracing waiting creates a path for flourishing.
- God Works as I Wait
- Embracing waiting provides an opportunity for God to work. p. 111
- Disdain for Waiting Is Connected to a Desire for Control
- Life is full of gap moments, opportunities to wait on God. Therefore, I know this book is only the beginning. The issue at hand isn’t if we wait but how we wait. And I hope that you are now better equipped and encouraged to wait. Just to remind you, here’s how:
- Honestly: waiting is hard
- Frequently: waiting is common
- Thoughtfully: waiting is biblical
- Patiently: waiting is slow
- Intentionally: waiting is commanded
- Collectively: waiting is relational p. 111
- There will come a day when our waiting will be over. Our faith will be sight. Everything will be complete. Eternal life will replace our temporary sense of time. It’s not that everything will be fast or quick. It’s just that there will be no more gaps of vulnerability. What’s more, we’ll see our God just as he is. We’ll know exactly what’s true about him because we’ll be with him forever. p. 111
- I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Ps. 27:13–14) p. 112
- The Lord Is . . .
- The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Ps. 9:9)
- The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. (Ps. 10:16)
- The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. (Ps. 11:4)
- For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (Ps. 11:7)
- The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. (Ps. 16:5)
- The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Ps. 18:2)
- The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Ps. 23:1)
- The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1)
- The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. (Ps. 28:7)
- Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Ps. 34:8)
- The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Ps. 103:8)
- The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? (Ps. 118:6)
- The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. (Ps. 118:14)
- The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. (Ps. 121:5)
- The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (Ps. 145:18)
- Lord, You Are…
- But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. (Ps. 3:3)
- I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Ps. 16:2)
- But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” (Ps. 31:14)
- You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. (Ps. 32:7)
- As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! (Ps. 40:17)
- For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. (Ps. 71:5)
- You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. (Ps. 77: 14)
- For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. (Ps. 86:5)
- But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (Ps. 86:15)
- You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. (Ps. 118:28)
- I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” (Ps. 142:5)
- Waiting in the Psalms
- Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. (Ps. 25:3)
- Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Ps. 25:5)
- May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. (Ps. 25:21)
- Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Ps. 27:14)
- Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord! (Ps. 31:24)
- Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. (Ps. 33:20)
- Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! (Ps. 37:7)
- For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. (Ps. 37:9)
- Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. (Ps. 37:34)
- But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. (Ps. 38: 15) And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. (Ps. 39:7)
- I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. (Ps. 40:1)
- I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly. (Ps. 52:9)
- For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. (Ps. 62:1)
- For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. (Ps. 62:5)
- I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. (Ps. 69:3)
- But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. (Ps. 106:13)
- I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. (Ps. 130:5)
- My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. (Ps. 130:6)