Close on the heels of my questions and wondering, I turned to the Bible to see what it says about the idea. I typed the word “wait” into the search engine of my Bible software and eagerly scanned the verses to see if I could find one where God was waiting. However, as I read verse after verse I became crestfallen. It seemed there was no scriptural support for the idea of God waiting. But then I found Isaiah 30:18 “¶ And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” Huzzah! There in the Bible I found a verse that said God waited. My search was over. Or was it? Of course not. I continued searching but I could not find any more verses that said God waited. So I came back to this one and said, “Well, I’d better check the meaning of the word in Hebrew. Maybe we translated it “wait” in English, but perhaps the Hebrew is more precise.” I was relieved to find that the Hebrew definition also meant “to await: long, tarry, wait.” But if this was the only verse in the Bible that says God waits, how was I supposed to fully understand God’s waiting?
Friday, March 10, 2017
When God Waits
Close on the heels of my questions and wondering, I turned to the Bible to see what it says about the idea. I typed the word “wait” into the search engine of my Bible software and eagerly scanned the verses to see if I could find one where God was waiting. However, as I read verse after verse I became crestfallen. It seemed there was no scriptural support for the idea of God waiting. But then I found Isaiah 30:18 “¶ And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” Huzzah! There in the Bible I found a verse that said God waited. My search was over. Or was it? Of course not. I continued searching but I could not find any more verses that said God waited. So I came back to this one and said, “Well, I’d better check the meaning of the word in Hebrew. Maybe we translated it “wait” in English, but perhaps the Hebrew is more precise.” I was relieved to find that the Hebrew definition also meant “to await: long, tarry, wait.” But if this was the only verse in the Bible that says God waits, how was I supposed to fully understand God’s waiting?
