Paul Tripp: You see waiting by biblical description is not an interruption of the plan. Waiting by God's view is not in the way of the plan. As God asks us to wait, God is not forsaking His plan. Waiting is, in fact, the plan.

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Here, now, is Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: It happened to me again recently; I couldn't believe it. I had planned a careful, slow, relaxing trip. I'm very project oriented, very schedule oriented, plan my days well, I had this one planned. I was going to a speaking engagement outside of New York City. I decided I'd leave early, give myself plenty of time, get to my hotel, be able to relax, and meet somebody for supper, and then go and speak. I'm cruising along the turnpike, listening to the radio, having a wonderful trip and then, all of a sudden, it happens.

The bridge from Pennsylvania to New Jersey is narrowed from three lanes to one lane, right at the tollbooth. I couldn't believe it! It took me an hour and 10 minutes to go 5 miles! Five miles--an hour and 10 minutes! And as I'm sitting in the car, I can feel the emotional temperature changing. All of a sudden, my joyful day is not so joyful anymore. I can feel the change in attitude; I can feel the anger and frustration beginning. I'm looking out at the windows, and there are not very many happy people in this group.

We're all narrowing down from three lanes to one lane, trying to make our way through the tollbooth, seeing who can get first across the bridge. It was so frustrating! I couldn't believe it. I do and I do, and this is the thanks I get? Now I don't think I'm alone. I don't think that we like to wait, do we?

When is the last time you really enjoyed waiting? When is the last time you planned waiting into your schedule? We just don't like to wait.

Music: "Only a Broken Heart" by Tom Petty

Here comes that feeling I've seen in your eyes
Back in the old days before the hard times
But I'm not afraid anymore
It's only a broken heart

Kate Crowley: "Learning to Wait," part of "Survival Skills for a Fallen World" here on Right Here, Right Now. Thanks for joining Paul Tripp Ministries, Monday through Friday at 11 A.M. here on WFIL. It's where you'll find help in Jesus Christ, right here, right now. Check out Paul's latest book Lost In The Middle. Go to paultrippministries.org, and while you're there, you'll find many other resources designed to help you face the issues of life. That's paultrippministries.org. Here's Paul Tripp with more, Right Here, Right Now.

Why Is Waiting So Hard for Us?

Paul Tripp: Have you ever wondered why waiting is so hard for us? Why does the line at the grocery store drive you crazy? Or the snarled traffic that you drive through so often? Or why does it just make you insane that you have to sit and wait at the doctor's office? You know, you're through your fifth magazine. You're now reading a magazine on potato harvesting. You'd never read that magazine; you'd never open that magazine ever.

You're reading that magazine; you're not really reading that magazine; you're looking at pictures and words, but you're not really reading it because you're livid; you're thinking about what you'd like to say to this doctor when he finally lets you into that waiting room. And you get in the waiting room; I called it the waiting room because it's an examining room, but it's not really an examining room; it's another waiting room. Now you're waiting alone in this little private room for the doctor to come, and you're even more incensed. In this room, they don't even have magazines.

Or maybe you're waiting for somebody who's late, and you can't believe it. You've worked to be on time, and you're sort of watching the clock slowly tick away, and you think, "I can't believe that they're making me wait; it's so rude." You know, I've never heard anyone ever say, "You know, I hope I'm forced to wait a whole bunch of times a day because I just love waiting." You see, there are things inside of us that make waiting very hard. The first is...waiting just seems meaningless and purposeless to us, because you see, what we have our focus on is the thing that we'll get at the end of the wait. So waiting just seems to be an obstacle to the thing that we've set our hearts on.

And the second thing is, it's hard to admit, but it's definitely true, if you watch the way we live, because we all tend to be so self-focused, we want to be able to live life without any obstacles or any delays. We want life to be pothole free. We want life to be delay free. We want life to be obstacle free. We want life to be predictable, and efficient, and quick, and practical. And our struggle for waiting really does reveal how deeply and comprehensively self-absorbed we actually are. We want to control our little universe, and we don't want it to include any waiting, and we don't like the things, and we don't like the people, and we don't like the circumstances that force us to wait.

We don't want to face traffic on bridges. Have you ever wondered why God is so zealous to set up conditions that force you to wait? Have you ever wondered why God rules His world in such a way that it requires you to wait? Have you ever wondered why waiting is part of our daily situations; waiting is part of our everyday relationships; waiting is even part of our relationship with God? Have you ever wondered why waiting is part of the plan? It's not part of your plan; it's in the way of your plan. Why is God so zealous to set up conditions that force you and me to have to wait?

Music: "Waiting For a Miracle" by Bruce Cockburn

Look at them working in the hot sun
The pilloried saints and the fallen ones
Working and waiting for the night to come
And waiting for a
And waiting for a
And waiting for a miracle

The Bible Is a Story of Waiting

Paul Tripp: Have you ever thought about it; have you ever considered--has it ever hit your mind that the Bible is actually a story of waiting? One of the main themes of the Bible is waiting. One of the main experiences of God's people is waiting. One of the significant things about the history that's laid out for us in Scripture is how much it is actually a Chronicle of waiting. The Bible is a book about waiting.

After the fall, Adam and Eve had to wait with humanity for thousands of years for the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Abraham and Sarah waited for seventy-five years for the birth of that promised son. It was such a hard wait. Israel had to wait for forty years, touring around the wilderness, in order to get into the Promised Land. The Israelite captives had to wait in exile in Babylon for their return and the rebuilding of the temple. We now wait in anticipation for the return of the Lord.

Everywhere in the story of the Bible is waiting. You can't read Scripture without concluding, that for some reason, God has ordained that His children would wait. There's something that God thinks about waiting that's different than the way that we think about waiting. God must view waiting in a way that we don't. God must see waiting in a very different way than we do. What is it about waiting that makes God so willing to call all of us to wait?

You see, waiting by biblical description is not an interruption of the plan; waiting, by God's view, is not in the way of the plan. As God asks us to wait, God is not forsaking His plan. Now you've got to get this; this is radical. This is something that you'll probably only ever hear from someone who is embracing the biblical story. Waiting is, in fact, the plan. It is, in fact, waiting is the plan. Waiting is a very significant part of how God accomplishes all that He's seeking to do in us and through us, and in this broken world, waiting is an integral, significant, essential part of the plan.

You see, when Jesus was born, the Bible says He came at just the right moment. Now, think about what that means--that means that all those years of waiting were not just meaningless waiting like you're sitting at the dentist's office, incensed that he scheduled so many people that you have to wait for 45 minutes. No! The waiting of all those years was productive. They were not just a cosmic waste of time. There was a reason that everything happened. There was a reason for every circumstance. There was a reason for every location. There was a reason for every month, the week, and year. There was a reason for every king, and every prophet, and every judge. There was a reason for every difficulty and every provision. There was a reason for everything that happened during the wait.

The wait was a part of the plan; the wait was meant to be productive. God was doing things that would bring the world to this insignificant moment when it was just the right moment for the Lord Jesus Christ to come to earth to live and to die and to provide redemption for His people. That waiting was not in the way of the redemptive plan. That waiting was, in fact, an integral part of the redemptive plan. And unless you understand that, you will never ever understand what God is doing in your life. God is calling you to wait, not because He's forgotten you, not because He doesn't control His world very well, not because He's unkind, and unloving, and inattentive, and unfaithful. God is calling you to wait precisely because He loves you, and He knows how productive waiting can be in your life.

Now, that means there must be biblical principles that have to do with waiting. There must be concepts about waiting that would help us to have a different experience, a different attitude, a different perspective on this thing that drives us so crazy so often, that frustrates us, because it appears to be meaningless.

Think about me in that traffic. My problem is that I see absolutely no purpose to the wait. I see purpose to the trip; I see purpose to the destination; but I don't see any purpose to the wait. And so, because I don't see any purpose in the wait, the wait can only be two things. First, it's a waste of time; and second, it's an obstacle. And so, I am frustrated and angry because waiting doesn't have purpose to me. And so, let's look at six biblical waiting principles.

First is this, waiting is inescapable. This side of heaven, you will never ever, ever, ever escape waiting. Why is that? Because God, who rules His world, is the God of the wait, and He has ordained waiting for us because He's ordained waiting to be productive for us; because He is committed to what He wants to do in us and through us. You will never escape waiting; don't try; it won't happen. You will always be required to wait.

Second, waiting is actually about mercy and grace. It's not just that you need mercy and grace in order to wait properly; waiting is, in fact, a gift of mercy. Waiting is, in fact, a gift of grace. You see, if God were just a God of justice, He wouldn't wait; He'd meet out His justice, and all of us would be condemned. God waits in order to give His mercy time to do its work of transformation. If God didn't wait, there wouldn't be hope for any of us because all of us need more grace; all of us need more mercy, because none of us are what we are supposed to be.

This means a third thing. It means then that waiting, of its very nature, is productive. Waiting, by its very nature, is doing something in you; it may not be something you recognize; it may not be something that you'd like. But waiting, in fact, is productive, because the God, who has His hands on the waiting and is controlling it, is a God who is committed to completing what He's begun in you. You see, waiting is not about what you will get at the end of the wait. Oh get this principle! Waiting is about what you will become as you wait.

Fourth, waiting is active. You see, God wants you not just to be sitting there drumming your fingers, and frustrated in your mind, and upset in your heart. God wants you to be active; God wants you to do things as you're waiting that fit with the productivity that He's after in the middle of the wait. Waiting is meant to be an active experience--it's not a passive experience of quiet seething or angry frustration. Waiting is meant to be active.

Waiting also means that something good is coming. If waiting is productive, then waiting will produce something good; there's good in waiting; something good is coming. This is not just meaningless, or it's not just something that results in bad.

And finally, this is so sweet; there will be a day when waiting will end. There will be a day when our waiting will be over. There will be a day when waiting will be over because there will be a day when waiting will accomplish its work.

Waiting is inescapable. Waiting is about mercy. Waiting is productive. Waiting is active. Waiting means something good is coming. Waiting will end.

Your God is the God of the wait. The fact that you have to wait is not the result of His unfaithfulness and inattention. The fact that you have to wait is a result of His mercy and His love.

Music: "Press On" by Selah

When the valley is deep
when the mountain is steep
when the body is weary
when we stumble and fall
When the choices are hard
when we're battered and scarred
when we've spent our resource
when we've given our all
In Jesus name we press on
In Jesus name we press on
dear Lord, with the prize
clear before our eyes
we find the strength to press on

Where Is God Calling You to Wait?

Paul Tripp: Take a look at your last week. Take a look at your last month. Or take a look at last year. Take a look at yesterday. Where is God calling you to wait? Where is God requiring you to wait in places that you really don't want to wait? What, right now, are you waiting for?

And, ask yourself this question, "How are you doing in the middle of the wait? Are you angry? Are you frustrated? Are you irritated? Are you discouraged? Do you try to control your life in every way you possibly can control it so that every way possible you could miss the wait?"

You see, all of us share this one thing in common--all of us live in the middle of the wait. All of us have realized that somehow, someway, waiting is inescapable. Think about it. Because all of us live between the first coming of Jesus Christ and the second coming of Jesus Christ, we all live in a time of waiting. And it's incredibly important for each one of us to understand that waiting is not in the way of God's agenda. Waiting is God's agenda. Let me say it to you again. Waiting is not in the way of God's agenda. Waiting is God's agenda.

Why is God calling you to wait?...Because He is doing things in you, through you, and around you by the wait that are very good. God is doing things in you, and through you, and around you that are very, very, very good. The wait is not meaningless; the wait is not purposeless. The waiting is effective, and it's productive.

You see, here is what is happening. God is withholding His final justice so that His mercy has time to continue its work of rescue and restoration that you, and I, and the surrounding world so desperately need. Hear this again. God is withholding His final justice so that His mercy and grace have time to continue their work of rescue and restoration that we need, and that others need, and that this world so desperately needs.

Yes, God does call you to wait, and He has called you to wait, not because He has forgotten you, not because He is insensitive and uncaring, but precisely because He loves you. And as you wait, He is changing you and helping you to be a tool of change in others who are waiting too. You know, when you are required to wait, rather than getting angry, rather than being frustrated, rather than screaming and yelling, and giving way to those emotions of frustration, do you know what you ought to be doing?

Do you know what I ought to be doing? We ought to be looking up, and saying, "Thank you!" to the One who loves us so much that He gives us the opportunities of mercy that only waiting can give us. Waiting is a gift of grace. God waits so that we would have further opportunities to be what He has ordained for us to be.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: Are you like me in that traffic jam? Do you give way to feelings of meaningless and purposelessness as you have to wait? Do you know what our anger, our frustration, our discouragement with waiting reveals? Watch out! This is very humbling. It reveals that we are more committed to our plan than God's.

Oh! A couple of years ago, I was waiting in traffic, and this 'god-like' thought came into my mind, "Don't they know I have somewhere to go?" I wanted the people in front of me to look in their rearview mirrors and see me sitting there and say, "Oh, Paul is behind us," and I wanted them to part like the waters of the Red Sea so I could drive through and waive and say, "Thank you! I'll be through here again tomorrow."

You see, our struggle with waiting reveals that we tend to get more pleasure from the success of our own little kingdom purposes than we do from the grand purposes of the kingdom of God. And it reveals that we all too quickly judge God by how quickly He delivers what we want rather than being thankful that He faithfully keeps working to do in us and through us all the things He has promised.

You see, whose plan are you after? Whose plan do you want to be successful, God's or yours? Whose kingdom do you serve? God's kingdom is a kingdom of waiting because waiting is about grace; waiting is about love; waiting is about mercy. Accept and enjoy the wait. You are not being forgotten. You are being remembered. Find joy in the wait; it is not a sign of punishment. No! It is a tool of God's love and God's grace. There is mercy in the wait.

Kate Crowley: "Learning to Be Still," a lesson from Paul Tripp, Right Here, Right Now. There is more from the series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World." So, be sure and tell a friend.

In his new book, Lost In The Middle, Paul Tripp looks at the hope that is still available no matter what season of life you may be living. That's Lost In The Middle. Log on to paultrippministries.org. That's all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. While you are on line, you can also listen to this program again, or sign up for the daily podcast, and have the programs delivered to you on demand any time.

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Tomorrow, "A Look at Anger" from the series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World." Tell a friend about this new outreach from Paul Tripp Ministries. And, I'm Kate Crowley, reminding you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now.