Waiting Isn’t Wasting

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Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Think

Advent is a season built around waiting. But most of us aren’t very good at it. We wait in traffic, refreshing arrival times. We wait in checkout lines, scrolling on our phones to distract ourselves. We wait for text replies, job offers, healing, direction, peace. And beneath it all, there's this restless voice that whispers, "This is a waste of time."

That’s how it feels, doesn’t it? When prayers go unanswered. When the timeline stretches longer than we planned. When life feels stuck in pause mode while everyone else seems to be moving forward. Waiting can feel like being left behind. But in God’s kingdom, waiting is never wasted.

Romans 8:25 reminds us that waiting isn’t the absence of hope—it’s the evidence of it. We wait because we believe. Hope isn’t passive. It’s active, stretching us toward something more. And waiting becomes a space where God does some of his deepest work. Think about the Christmas story. It didn’t begin in Bethlehem. It began in centuries of silence.

God’s people had been promised a Savior. Prophets had spoken. A King was coming. But for 400 years between the Old and New Testaments, there was no fresh word from God. No new revelations. Just silence.

That silence could’ve been mistaken for abandonment. But God hadn’t walked away—he was preparing everything.

When the angel finally appeared to Zechariah in the temple, when Mary was visited, when the shepherds heard the announcement, it wasn’t random. It was timed. Galatians 4:4 says that Jesus came “when the set time had fully come.” In other words, God hadn’t forgotten. He had a calendar all along. We just couldn’t see it.

And that’s the hard part about waiting. We don’t see the schedule. We don’t get the behind-the-scenes glimpse. All we feel is the slowness, the ache, the uncertainty. But waiting is often where God re-forms us—not just to receive the promise, but to become the kind of people who can carry it.

Waiting stretches faith. It refines motives. It purifies desire. It slows us down enough to hear the whisper of God again—not just the answer we want, but the presence we need.

In Luke 2, we meet a man named Simeon. Scripture tells us he was righteous, devout, and “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” That’s a poetic way of saying he was waiting for the Messiah. He had likely waited for decades. But he didn’t grow bitter. He didn’t check out. He kept showing up at the temple. He kept leaning in.

And when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus into the temple, Simeon immediately recognized him—not because of angel choirs or glowing halos, but because years of waiting had trained his eyes to see what others missed.

That’s what waiting can do. It sharpens spiritual vision.

What if the silence isn’t God’s absence, but your invitation to press in? What if the delay isn’t rejection, but alignment? What if your waiting room is actually holy ground, where God is preparing your soul for something weightier than you even asked for?

We often think God’s slowness means he’s uninterested. But Scripture shows us the opposite. God is never rushed. He moves at the speed of eternity. And sometimes he holds back – not to punish us, but to protect the promise. To prepare the way. To deepen our dependence on him, not the outcome. Maybe the goal isn’t just to get through the waiting—but to grow in it.

It’s not easy. We wrestle. We grieve. We wonder if we’ve missed it somehow. But God is not in a hurry, and he isn’t late. His timing doesn’t always make sense, but it is always good.

Advent reminds us that hope isn’t wishful thinking—it’s anchored expectation. We are waiting for more than a date on the calendar. We are waiting for a Person. For his presence to break in, not just historically, but personally. And he always comes to those who are watching for him.

If you find yourself in a season of waiting right now—don’t rush past it. Sit in it. Ask what God is forming in you through it. You may not see it yet, but he wastes nothing. Not even this.

Apply

Identify one area where you’re waiting on God—healing, direction, breakthrough, provision. Instead of asking him to speed it up, ask him to show you what he’s doing in you while you wait. Write that down and revisit it during the week.

Pray

God, I don’t want to waste this waiting. Teach me to trust your timing, even when it doesn’t match mine. Help me to lean into you instead of rushing past what you’re forming in me. Give me eyes to see that you are near, even in silence. Shape my heart while I wait and make me ready for whatever you’ve prepared. In Jesus’ name. Amen.