God’s Waiting Room

By Garmon Kwong

Newmarket, Canada

Scripture Reading: John 11:1-43

We all know what it feels like to wait. At the doctor’s office, we wait quietly for the receptionist to call our name. We wait for Ubers, in lines at the grocery store, for funny videos to download. We wait for traffic lights to turn green, elevators to arrive, Zoom calls to start and meetings to end. In fact, our society dislikes waiting so much that there are professional line waiters, people who get paid to wait in line for others! We can’t always control when we must wait, but we can decide how we wait. We can either wait with worry or we can wait well.

December is a unique month. It’s a time when many of us will reflect on the past year and yet at the same time begin making new goals for the year ahead. Reflecting back on my year, I have wondered if God’s timing was off in my life. During the year I had more than a few “what if” or “if only” moments. There were many instances when I sat in God’s waiting room, worried, impatient and hoping to skip the queue. There were also times when I think I waited well. I was at peace and trusted in God’s timing and direction for my life. I believe how we wait in God’s waiting room is just as important as what we’re waiting for. 

One reason we worry while waiting is because we question God’s desire to answer our prayers. For many of us who have devoted our lives to God for any length of time, we rarely doubt if God CAN do something. We believe God has the ability to answer our prayers. Where we may waver is doubting God’s desire to WANT to answer our prayers.

In John 11:21 and 32, both Martha and Mary said to Jesus, “If you had been here, our brother Lazarus would not have died.” They didn’t question whether Jesus could save him. They questioned why He did not do it. They doubted His desire to save Lazarus. On some level, that’s a more mistrusting doubt as it speaks to intent. If someone doesn’t have the ability to do something, we can’t really fault them. However, if they have the ability and choose not to act, then it causes us to question their love for us.

Jesus loved the two sisters and Lazarus. Jesus didn’t lack the desire to heal Lazarus, but it wasn’t the right time. When we are in God’s waiting room, time can feel like an enemy. But timing is so important. Sometimes in our desperate need for something to happen, we want to rush God. We may try to take things into our own hands and do whatever it takes to get what we want. When we do, the results may not be what we wanted or expected. For those of us who have ever been pregnant, imagine going to your doctor and demanding him to induce labor at 26 weeks because you want the baby now or it’s too hard or too inconvenient being pregnant. The doctor will tell you to keep the baby inside for as long as you can until the time is right for delivery. This makes sense. But when it comes to other things in our lives, we don’t always apply the same principle.

When I was giving birth to our two daughters, I recall taking direction from the doctor on when to push. Timing was important, because their heart rate was being monitored and pushing at the wrong time could result in them not having enough oxygen or if the cord is around the baby’s neck, pushing could result in the cord harming the baby. We don’t always have the whole perspective on what is happening. We trust the direction of the doctor to guide us so the timing is right. Waiting and timing go hand-in-hand. It’s not always easy to accept, but God knows the perfect timing and until then, we wait.

I imagine Mary and Martha thought their waiting was over when Lazarus died and was buried. The timing of Jesus’ arrival didn’t make sense to them. But the truth is, they were still in the waiting room because it wasn’t the right time for God yet. True to form, God, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3: 20), raised Lazarus from the dead.  When we wait for God’s timing, we will see His glory (John 11:40). Healing Lazarus would have been amazing, but raising him from the dead, extraordinary!

Looking back on 2021, I remember an instance where I pushed my way to get what I wanted. I’m definitely a “jump into the pool headfirst” person. My husband is a “dip my toe to test the water first” person. I wanted his decision on something. I prayed about it, had discussions with my husband on it, and prayed some more, but it was taking too long. Eventually, my nagging and pressuring forced my husband to make a decision that went my way. I got what I asked for, but the whole situation left us at odds with each other and with residual hurts for weeks afterward.

I can also recall a memory where I waited patiently and although I did not get what I prayed for, I remember being at peace during the waiting process. I trusted if my prayers weren’t answered, it was because God didn’t want me to have it at that moment. Sometime later in the year, I was able to share this lesson with our daughters as they waited in God’s waiting room for their prayers to be answered on some significant decisions in their lives. Incredibly, not only did God bless them beyond what they asked for in prayers, but the serendipitous blessing for me was seeing how my lesson was passed on to them and in turn they learned to wait on God and learned to trust in His timing. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-5, God says there's a time for everything, a time to sow and to reap. In our lives, I believe it is important to know what time we are in because when we do, we can wait so much better because we know it’s not time yet.

As we enter 2022, perhaps you have some goals on a prayer list you will put before God.

I hope the scriptures below will encourage you to wait well while in God’s waiting room.

•       Wait prayerfully and thankfully.

God gives us a substitution to our worry and anxiety

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

•       Be Still and Know that God is God.

We can be still and have calm hearts because whatever God’s answer or however He answers our prayers, we know that ultimately God will be glorified.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Questions for Reflection:

1.      Is there something I am waiting on from God?
2.      How can I come to peace with the timeline God has in place if what I am waiting on doesn’t happen when or how I’m hoping?
3.      How is waiting related to trust?
4.      Think of a time when I have waited well on God.  What did I learn?