I am fascinated by the minutia you can uncover on the Internet. For example, did you know that you could look up an estimate of your wait time at the Department of Motor Vehicles? Pick a day; pick a time and that site will let you know the wait time. (By the way, on Fridays at 7am it’s only a 22-minute wait.)

If you are en route to Disneyland, type in your favorite ride and see the wait time. Indiana Jones is a 40-minute wait from noon till 3pm. But Splash Mountain is a 58-minute wait until 6pm.

If you are coming from Mexico and want a visitor visa, the wait time for an appointment is 9 working days. The wait at the San Ysidro border crossing at 10 am each morning is only 20 minutes.

And my favorite site outlined the wait at emergency rooms all over the country. In case you are interested, the average wait is 24 minutes until you see a doctor. And if your arm is broken, it will take another 60 minutes before you get some pain medicine.

Truth is you and I wait all the time. We wait at restaurants, dentist offices, school parking lots and for boring movies to be over. So when we see a verse like Psalm 37:34 “Wait on the Lord and keep His way…” We envision ourselves in a spiritual holding pattern. Our “divine foot” starts tapping and we start the impatient count down.

Somehow we think that the Lord is going to treat us just like society does and we have to just hang around and wait to get His attention.

Not so…

In fact, the Hebrew word in that passage (and others like it) carries the idea of “binding together.” The mental picture is a bunch of strings tied together to make a strong cord. It is the concept of anticipating good results. We are to be alert and carefully watching to see exactly what the Lord chooses to do. We trust Him. We have some experience in watching how He works. We are ready to react to His new plan.

There is no useless boredom when we wait on the Lord. It is purposeful and directed at an outcome we should already be encouraged about.

And so, this week as you and I both wait to hear from the Lord on some important matters, let’s make sure we wait expectantly. Let’s anticipate His grace, His direction, and His kindness. The psalmist put it this way: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits and in His word I put my hope.” (Ps. 130:5)

With our whole being focused on His gracious interaction with us…it’s ok to wait!