My chiropractor appointment was scheduled for Monday morning. I arrived a little early and I could see several people in the waiting room, so I waited five minutes before leaving the car. And once I walked into the doctor’s office, I realized the waiting room was full. It never is this busy. As I sat and waited with everyone else, I noticed that everyone had their heads bowed to their phones. There were no conversations to be heard. The man sitting near me was playing Solitaire on his phone. One woman was texting. Who knows what the others waiting were looking at. Then when I was leaving the appointment, I noticed that the waiting room was still very full. Monday was a very busy day for the chiropractor.
On Tuesday, I found myself in another doctor’s waiting room. This room wasn’t quite so full, not only were the people at the check-in desk busily helping patients arriving and leaving, but they were also taking phone calls. And when I was checking out, I was told their computers were on edge that morning. There’s never a dull moment, even when we’re on hold or in a waiting room.
I was back at the chiropractor’s office on Wednesday morning. Busy again. There were nine people ahead of me. Every appointment was running late. The doctor will be out of the office next week, so he apparently had to see next week’s patients this week. His office is only open three days a week to begin with. From the scuttle in the waiting room, Tuesday wasn’t as busy a day for him as the two days I happened to be there. That’s my luck.
Then on Thursday morning, I had a massage. Once again, I sat in a waiting room. This room was quiet as I sat watching the Pilates instructors preparing for their upcoming appointments. Fortunately, the massage was worth the wait.
Have you ever found yourself in a waiting room where you were kept waiting far longer than you expected? Oh. It may not be a brick and mortar waiting room. It may be that God is not answering your prayers. Or his timing isn’t going as quickly as you think it should. Or the problem is still hanging on when you want it resolved immediately. Waiting is a hard thing. And timing is everything to those who are on a time clock.
Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 2 Peter 3:8
This could be your season of waiting. It’s your in between time of what was and what could be or might never be. Are you prepared for it? Do you know how to prepare, or can you? And do you know exactly what you’re waiting for? Just remind yourself when the waiting gets tough that God knows what he’s doing. He won’t lead you astray.
You’ve heard the saying “hurry up and wait.” That’s what we do. And we’re just not happy when our time is controlled by someone else or something beyond our control. The thing is. We have to learn to trust God’s speed. He’s never too slow or too quick. He’s right on time. We just don’t always see it that way. But his ways are perfect. And at times his ways are unexpected.
Think of the stories in the Bible where people waited and waited. Abraham and Sarah were old when they became parents to their son, Isaac. They waited twelve years after God had promised they would have him. And consider the Israelites who were led by God into the wilderness, instead of straight to Canaan. Sure. The delay was due to their disobedience. But forty years is a long time to wait. It was a death sentence for many. The children of Israel who were taken captive to Babylon were held there against their will for seventy years. Some never returned home. And consider Zechariah and Elizabeth. Both were in their later years of life when they became first-time parents to their promised son, John.
Then there’s the Promised Messiah. His birth fulfilled the promise God made in Genesis 3:15 after the fall of Adam and Eve. This promise was made progressively throughout the Old Testament. In many different instances, God spoke through prophets about the coming Messiah, who would be the Savior of the world. And when that promise was finally fulfilled, many did not believe that a small babe born in Bethlehem would be the one to die on the cross for their sins. But he did.
And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel. Genesis 3:15
And now we find ourselves waiting for the promised return of Jesus. Oh. We’ve been waiting a very long time, and we don’t know when his return date is. Actually, he doesn’t know the day or time, either. Only our Heavenly Father knows. We need to make sure that at the appointed time we are in the correct waiting room for eternity with Christ. That’s one room that should be packed full and overflowing. Are you in your seat, ready and waiting?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:9-10
Mercy for the Day 