Waiting experts tell us that the average person in the U.S. will spend over an hour each day waiting: on red lights, in traffic, on hold. In fact, the average U.S. person will spend 43 days over a lifetime waiting on hold.
But I think the worst type of waiting is what I might call “nervous waiting”—that period of time when we are waiting on an outcome…an outcome that is going to cause change or bring a disruption. It’s a type of waiting that is a combination of two things that none of us really like: 1) waiting; and 2) anxiety. Worst of all, it shows up in every stage of life:
In grade school, it’s waiting on a response from a love letter (think the classic “YES/NO” check box) or on a grade from a test. In high school it’s waiting on results from a tryout (for a team, a play, a musical ensemble) or on a response from a college application.
In young adult life it’s waiting to hear back from a job interview, or waiting on stopped traffic to clear, which can be particularly unnerving if you are on your way to a job interview. In adult life it’s waiting on an offer from a house or waiting on results from a biopsy or a medical test or scan.
In my personal experience of all these examples, the stakes are the highest in the waiting of results from medical tests and medical scans. In fact, I’ve coined a word: scanxiety…that feeling of anxiety that grips us between the scan and receiving the results.
Since nervous waiting is inevitable, it brings up a couple of questions: How can we pass the time? How can we redeem the time? Is there a way to keep scanxiety from being so anxiety-laced? I’ve spent considerable time in Scripture lately trying to find insight into these questions. Here are two takeaways:
1. Waiting is a Virtue.
In fact, it may be on the level of spiritual discipline. Scripture tells us we are blessed when we
love, forgive, sacrifice, make peace. We are also blessed when we wait. In 1 Samuel 10, during the anointing process of Saul, who would become Israel’s first king, the prophet/priest/judge Samuel had given detailed instructions to solidify Saul’s anointing. These instructions included Saul waiting seven days for Samuel to arrive before administering burnt offerings and sacrifice offerings. Saul is not given a reason for the wait. It was simply a step baked into the anointing process.
Waiting is a virtuous discipline. So rather than focusing on the importunity of waiting, maybe we can look forward to waiting in the same way we look forward to anything about God that will leave us blessed: worship, meditation, generosity, prayer, exploring Scripture. The next time you are waiting on a call back (from an audition, an interview, a medical test), think of it as an opportunity to explore the virtue of waiting!
2. Waiting is a Gift
When we wait, we grow in ways we may not have otherwise grown. We gain a perspective we would otherwise not have gained. Granted, we’d rather not be in circumstances in which we are waiting on news that could be bad. But since we are, we might as well take advantage of the enhanced perspective caused by the waiting. We see this on display in Acts 17 when Paul was in Athens waiting on his friends to arrive from Berea, a distance of about 190 miles. Paul had been in Berea with Timothy and Silas but was escorted out of Berea and rushed to Athens for safety reasons due to political/religious unrest in Berea. Timothy and Silas remained in Berea and were to meet Paul in Athens. Due to the unrest back in Berea, Paul had reason to be concerned for the safety of his friends while he awaited their arrival in Athens.
But rather than stew, Paul took advantage of the time: he reasoned in the synagogue, he debated with the Epicureans, he preached in the Areopagus, and many people became followers. All because Paul leveraged his waiting time. We can do the same thing. Rather than stew over possible worst-case scenarios, we can leverage our waiting time by listening to what God is whispering in our ears, by expressing our fears with friends, by sharing how we’ve seen God’s hand and face as we navigate our anxieties. When we do this, we exercise spiritual and emotional muscles we would not normally exercise, which points us to one of the most famous verses about waiting: Those who wait up on the Lord shall renew their strength. (Isaiah 40:31).
Admittedly, to think of waiting as a virtue and a gift is a stretch, especially for me, with impatience being a key strand in my DNA. But by lifting it to the level of spiritual discipline that it is, waiting can be a new pipeline to strength and blessing.
I invite you to tap or click here for a 20-minute personal dive into a few verses that offer insight into how waiting can be a virtue and a gift in our daily aspect of life.
Thank you for reading and engaging,
Barry
20-Minute Personal Dive: The Virtue and Gift of Waiting