The Waiting Room

“Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

When I was growing up, my mom was often in and out of the hospital. Because of my mother’s poor health, I spent a lot of time in waiting rooms. You would think that I would be pretty good at waiting, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

I’m not at all good at waiting. Waiting is a discipline I have had to learn and practice my entire life. I need to get this right because life is full of waiting rooms - waiting for the doctor, waiting for the car to be repaired, waiting for a flight to leave, or even for the light to turn green. Then there are spiritual waiting rooms - those times when we are waiting on God for answered prayer.

Perhaps you are in a spiritual waiting room. Maybe you are waiting to find your spouse, waiting to have children, waiting for a new job or a new life. Whatever you are waiting for, Psalm twenty-seven tells us to wait patiently, In fact, it says it twice. But sandwiched between two exhortations to wait patiently are the words “Be brave and courageous.” We can be brave and courageous in the waiting rooms of life because we can trust that God knows the future.

There are some valuable things we can learn while we are waiting. If you are brave and courageous, God will use time spent in the waiting room to prepare you for the answer to your prayers and you will be better equipped to handle life’s upcoming challenges.