Why Does God Make Us Wait for Good Things?
Waiting Is for Our Good
Why does God make us wait for good things like a spouse or a baby? It’s a really good question, and it’s a hard one because we live in tension where there are really good gifts that God gives—things that are a blessing from him, things that we want, things that are good that we would want—and there are also a lot of things in life that we want that are bad, and we should resist those because they’re temptations and they are evil.
But it’s really hard when there are things that are good, things that God would describe as gifts and has given to us as gifts like a spouse or a baby. So how do we think about why God doesn’t give those things to us? My short answer is I don’t know. Honestly. Connecting the dots between what God is doing and why he’s doing it is a huge mystery.
In fact, in the book of Job we find that there are a lot of why questions. What’s interesting is that God never gives Job the why behind the what. Instead he reminds him who God is. It must mean—and I think this is true—that the who question is more helpful in the long run than the why question. I know that’s not easy. And trust me, I’ve lived in this space.
Waiting Isn't a Waste
Mark Vroegop
In Waiting Isn’t a Waste, author Mark Vroegop explores 6 characteristics of waiting, calling believers to lean on Christ when we are uncertain about our lives, but certain about God.
After the stillbirth of our daughter in 2004, there was a long season where my wife and I waited to conceive another child. There were multiple miscarriages, and I began to wonder, Am I just going to have to live—and is my wife going to have to live—with this longing that’s not going to be fulfilled?
That journey was long, it was hard, and it was painful. That waiting was really challenging. So how do you think about that waiting? What can you do when you’re in that season of waiting? I think one is as good as those gifts are, I think an important pivot has to take place between focusing merely on the why question to the who question. To be reminded that in the Bible God tells us that his ways are always good even though they’re confusing. His purposes are always kind. He has plans for us that fulfill his good purposes in our lives in a way in which bring him glory and in the end turn out for our good. But in the interim, we don’t always see that that’s the case.
Waiting is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
The other thing is to understand that sometimes it’s just a matter of time. In other words, you could look back on your life and think that there were seasons where you wondered, Why isn’t God answering my prayer? And then add five years or ten years into the equation and suddenly it’s clear, Oh, here’s what God was up to.
We don’t always get the answers to that question, but sometimes we do. If you look in the Bible, you’ll find that many Bible characters had long seasons of waiting. Think of Abraham waiting for Isaac. Think of Moses in the wilderness. Think of Hannah waiting for a child. Think of Joseph waiting in prison.
Waiting is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It’s part of what it means to trust that God knows what he’s doing. And so when you’re waiting for something good and it’s not coming, the hope and the comfort that the Bible offers to us, like from Psalm 27, is that our hearts can take courage as we wait on the Lord.
We’re not waiting on the answer. We’re not waiting on the fulfillment of our desire. We’re waiting on the fact that God is good. He’s worthy of our trust. And you can take even your good desires, lay them at his feet, and trust that his timing, his heart, and his purposes are always good. Even though they’re hard, they’re always good.
Mark Vroegop is the author of Waiting Isn’t a Waste: The Surprising Comfort of Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life.
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