WAITING
LESSONS

Topics: Hope; Patience; Perseverance; Seasons; Waiting on God

References: Psalm 27:14; Romans 8:22–25; Hebrews 10:36

I’m an impatient, restless person. Slowing down and waiting seem like a waste of time. Yet waiting seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition.

Henri Nouwen said, “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.”

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 8:24 resonates with Nouwen: “Waiting does not diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting” (The Message).

During times of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us.

—Luci Shaw, “Nourishment for the Journey,” in Nouwen Then, Christopher deVinck, ed. (Zondervan, 1999)