Waiting Is A Blessing

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you
compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who
wait for him!" (Isaiah 30:18, NIV)

Yes, you read it correctly. "Blessed are all who wait for him!"

We may find it difficult to comprehend that waiting could be a
blessing. We'd prefer not to wait. We don't like to wait for our
food. We don't like to wait for the movie to start. We don't like to
wait for answers to our questions. We do not like to wait for
information.

While we don't like to wait, the prophet from God gives us three
reasons why waiting really is a blessing.

We are blessed when we wait on the Lord because the Lord longs to be
gracious to us. He doesn't just think about being gracious to us, He
longs to be gracious. Sounds like He is looking for opportunities
to be gracious to us. He longs to be gracious (kind and merciful) to
us. He does not have to be gracious to us. We certainly do not
deserve it. Yet, He longs to be gracious to us. That's worth waiting
for.

We are blessed when we wait on the Lord because the Lord rises to
show us compassion. Obviously the Lord never sleeps or slumbers
(Psalm 121:4) but this statement brings to my mind the image of the
Lord getting up in the morning checking his notes and saying, "Well,
let's see what can I do to show Tom how compassionate I am today?
"What can I do to show Tom how sympathetic I am as he goes through a
difficult day? How can I show Him how concerned I am about Tom and
his family? " Or, perhaps the Amplified Bible explains it better,
"He lifts Himself up, 'that He may have mercy on you and show
loving-kindness to you.'" Sounds like He enjoys showing us
compassion.

We are blessed when we wait on the Lord because the Lord is a God of
justice. That reminds me that I do not need to spend a great deal of
time trying to make sure that justice is handed out to people. God
is a God of justice. He will take care of it. Justice is His
business. Justice is His nature.

It also helps to see waiting as a blessing when we more fully
understand what Isaiah had in mind with the word wait: "Blessed
(happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait
for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His
favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken
companionship] !" (Amplified Bible)

The last part of that explanation can help us develop a better
appreciation for waiting: When we "expect and look and long for Him
[for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His
matchless, unbroken companionship! "

As you wait for the Lord to do what the Lord longs to do, rises to
do, and is His nature to do, look for Him, look for His victory, His
favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken
companionship.

Waiting can be a blessing.