CHAPTER 34

"Waiting"

Wait – how I hate that word. I have always hated that word. My parents used it with frequency. When I wanted a mini bike I needed to wait. When I wanted my own car I had to wait. But more so than them, God has shackled my eagerness and desire with the word “wait.” I want to push forward and make strides of progress but He says wait. I want immediate success, immediate gratification but the big RED LIGHT so often appears as I sit and wait for it to turn green. What is so important about waiting? Why can’t we get our prayers answered right now?

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary brings new light on this word for me. It says that in the Bible the word means, “To remain in readiness or expectation. In Scripture, the word “wait” normally suggests the anxious, yet confident, expectation by God’s people that the Lord will intervene on their behalf. Such waiting may be for answers to prayer (Ps.25:5), for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4), for salvation (Gen.49:18), or especially for the coming of the Messiah to bring salvation to His people and to establish His kingdom on earth (Ps.37:34; Luke 12:36; Rom.8:23; 1Thess.1:10). Waiting, therefore, is the working out of hope.”

Wow! Waiting is the working out of hope. That changes things. Instead of being some dirty four letter word, it has purpose. God isn’t withholding His love, mercy and blessings for no reason. Everything has a season. God’s timing is impeccable. He has never once gotten it wrong.

We have been told that the normal recovery window for a comatose patient is one year. After that their chances of recovery diminish greatly and continue to diminish until they eventually die. Andrea has been in a coma for 218 days. She is getting closer and closer to the end of that declared window. What is God “waiting” for? Why doesn’t He just say the word and she will wake up? I sometimes struggle with my faith that God is going to heal her in this life time.

Many people have encouraged me that they believe God will heal Andrea completely. I have read and heard more testimonies than most, of God’s divine healing in the lives of comatose patience. Many have actually contacted me themselves. Some have even come to see Andrea and pray for her in person. Each one has been a refreshing reminder that God is a loving and merciful God; that God can do what doctors’ say is impossible or unlikely. Each one is a mighty testimony of His grace.

Jeremiah the prophet wrote the book of Lamentations. Read the words of 3:19-42. It is lengthy but well worth the read. Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰My soul still remembers and sinks within me. ²¹This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. ²²Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. ²³They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. ²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. ²⁸Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on him; ²⁹Let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope. ³⁰Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, and be full of reproach. ³¹For the Lord will not cast off forever. ³²Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. ³³For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. ³⁴To crush under one’s feet all the prisoners of the earth, ³⁵To turn aside the justice due a man before the face of the Most High, ³⁶Or subvert a man in his cause—the Lord does not approve. ³⁷Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? ³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? ³⁹Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord; ⁴¹Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. ⁴²We have transgressed and rebelled; you have not pardoned.

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. He knew the will of God concerning Judah and it was his job to reveal God’s coming judgment if they did not repent. As history has it, they did not repent and they were taken captive. But Jeremiah never lost hope that one day the nation would repent and be restored.

I do not know exactly all of God’s purposes for us in this waiting period, but verse 22 says, Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. God will sustain us through this trial. And experiencing His sustenance is something He deems important to us right now. It is easy to become self sufficient and prideful, so God uses things in our lives to help us remember that we can’t go it alone. We need His compassion. We need His help. Trials remind us of that fact.

Verse 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” My portion is an interesting and archaic phrase. This phrase was used to represent a person’s inheritance. It was used to represent the land that was divided up amongst the 12 tribes of Israel. It presents the idea of expected possession or blessing. Jeremiah looked beyond the temporal and earthly and realized that his portion was eternal and heavenly. He would not see Judah restored in his life time, but after enduring the sorrow of this life he looked forward to life everlasting with God.

He goes on to instruct us to wait because God is “good” to us if we do. But he doesn’t stop there. He also says to do it quietly. Often I see a spoiled child in a store pitching a royal fit because he wants something. I wonder if God doesn’t view me the same way when I complain and moan and groan about things. God speaks in a still, small voice and I think He wants us to exemplify Him in our approach.

Though I do not know all of God’s handiwork in this trial, I am aware of some things He is doing in my own life. ⁴⁰Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord; ⁴¹Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. Self examination is painful when it exposes sin or unbelief. The doctors did surgery on Andrea’s head, but God has done surgery on my heart. Andrea has a brain injury and we have wrist bands from the Brain Injury Association of America. Maybe somebody should start an organization for heart injury. God is working His purpose of purifying us through this trial.

Regardless of the results in us, we still must wait. But waiting isn’t so bad if it draws us close to God. Waiting helps us to depend more on Him. It gives us time to reflect on our own lives and our need for repentance and change. Waiting is one of the biggest factors of faith – the substance of things hoped for.

I believe the Lord has given me encouragement that my daughter will wake up from her coma soon. While physicians count down her recovery window to 182 days left, I count up to the day of her miracle. Every new day brings us that much closer to Andrea waking from coma. ³¹For the Lord will not cast off forever. ³²Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.