Waiting is the Hardest Part
May 5 2023 - Eric Buresh
No, I’m not quoting Tom Petty, although his song is now stuck in my head. Rather, I’m thinking about King Solomon, who acknowledged that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” (Proverbs 13:12). Thank you Solomon for saying what we all feel from time to time. It’s just a fact. Waiting is hard. Sometimes sickening. Particularly when you’ve reached the point of losing hope that whatever you’re waiting for will occur. When the job you wanted doesn’t materialize, when the spouse you’ve dreamed of isn’t found, when the relationship isn’t restored, when the healing doesn’t happen, when the loved one doesn’t come to faith. When the time is up and the thing for which you were waiting did not going to occur.
It makes the heart sick. We can have good and Biblical desires that are important, non-trivial things that, from our perspective, would bring God glory. Yet, despite sometimes years of consistent, fervent prayer, God doesn’t bring these hopes and dreams into reality. Dying dreams are painful. Unfulfilled expectations piling up like the wrinkles on our face. Disappointment seemed to pass quickly in youth when there were a thousand other exciting expectations to distract us and a seemingly infinite number of years to explore them. Now, it is evident that time is running out; more and more dreams are passing away. What we once considered just a delay in our dreams coming true is looking more like a graveyard of unrealized dreams. I think this is why so many Billionaires spend so much trying to stop age – to extend the window of hope that whatever they are longing for may still come to be.
Utter hopelessness. We, as believers, are not hopeless. We certainly have dreams die just like everyone else. And this can be confusing. I mean, doesn’t the Bible tell us that those who “wait for the Lord” to act will eventually get what they’ve dreamed? Patience, patience, patience will ultimately lead to God giving us what we want, won’t it? The answer is an emphatic no!
Our hope comes in “waiting for the Lord.” (Psalm 130:5) Not waiting for something we want. Not waiting for God to make our dreams come true. Waiting for the Lord. When He comes to you, He brings fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore. When He comes to you, He “shall renew your strength; you shall mount up with wings like an eagle; you shall run and not be weary; you shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31, ESV). And He has already come to us! His presence in us is a present reality, not a future dream. This is why we don’t fret the boulevard of broken dreams (sorry, now Green Day is in my head). Please don’t misunderstand me – we should always continue asking God for whatever good dreams we have, casting our cares on Him. Our prayers often move Him, and it delights Him to give us gifts just like any good father delights in giving good things to their children. But we already have the best thing – Him -- and we already have satisfaction regardless of whether any other dreams are ever fulfilled.
Solomon concludes, “But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Solomon didn’t know the name Jesus, but it is no accident Solomon spoke of Life. Christ is the bread of life. He is the Living Water. He is the Vine. And He has come to us already! While we may be waiting for certain dreams to come true, and while we don’t know whether they will or won’t, what we do know is that our greatest Treasure, our deepest desire has already come. And He is the tree of life.
Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:9)