Have you ever been at work on a slow day? In which you are just standing there, watching the minutes slowly tick by. Your feet are hurting and your head feels heavy from tiredness and all you can think of is everything you could be doing right then. Even doing homework would be better.

I work as a barista and I found myself doing this one particularly slow day. I was on the cash register, put apart from the other baristas, standing there, mentally begging for someone to walk up and order something. I was drawing on the little pastry bags, doodling on the cups, and dreaming of the sweet relief that the end of the shift would bring me. I checked the time, thinking I had at only two hours left of work. I mean it felt like I had been there forever. Turns out, I had only been there for an hour and a half. I still had four hours of standing there.

Sometimes we can feel like that with the Lord. We are just waiting and waiting on God. To speak to us, to help fight our battles, to answer our prayers, and give us joy. It can feel like He takes forever to answer, that He just keeps sending us to voicemail and never checks them. Then, it turns out, it has only been thirty seconds of waiting.

As humans, we are naturally impatient, selfish beings. We want everything right this second and not a second more. Waiting is the equivalent to death for us. It’s the same with God. We will spend a quick second sending a prayer to God and expect Him to answer it in the same amount of time. Then, when He doesn't, it can feel like He's leaving us on 'read'. But that’s not how He works. He is a God of love and knows what is best for us. Sometimes, we may not agree with it, or not like it, but He has our best interests at heart.

It’s strange though to think of the things we can be patient for. When it comes to stuff that “counts.” The new iPhone comes out? We wait in line for hours just to be able to get it on the first day it becomes available. That band we are obsessed with is doing a meet and greet? We wait hours just to be able to take a quick picture with them. To us, all this stuff is worth our time and money.

But why don’t we do the same with God? Why isn’t He on that top priority “to wait for” list? What makes us put all these materialistic things above the one who has us on top of His priority list? Why don’t we wait on Him like we do with the iPhone or the band? We spend all our hours on little things that, in the long run, won’t matter and are just a waste of money.

God’s love is unconditional and a free gift. He is always there even when it feels like all we get is static noise. He knows what’s best and if making us wait a little longer achieves His overall plan then so be it. It’s just our human nature that resents it.

Look at all these verses that talk about waiting on the Lord:

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
Lamentations 3:25

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James 5:7-8

God wants us to wait for Him. To seek Him and trust that His plan, is greater than we could ever imagine. It may feel like we are waiting forever and ever and ever, but wouldn’t you rather wait for something incredible than settle for something mediocre?

My challenge for you this week is to focus on waiting on God. Seek Him, don’t stop praying, and know that He has us in His hands.