Waiting… (By Jon Perkins)

The crowd was electric, just like it always is for a Los Angeles Lakers home game. Sold out crowd! Celebrities sitting courtside! Music blaring! Tip-off, and the game is underway. Nothing is out of the ordinary for this late season game. In fact, there were only two games in the season left. The game meant pretty much nothing to just about every player except Andre Ingram.
 
See, Andre is a rookie, but not your everyday 18 year-old rookie making his professional debut. He is, in fact, 32 years old – and on Tuesday night, he put on the Lakers jersey as a professional for the first time. He came out of college in 2007 and was not drafted in the NBA draft. He ended up in what is now called the G-League. He worked multiple jobs while still playing in the G-League just WAITING for an opportunity. He was never called up…but after 900 regular season Laker games, he finally got his chance. Andre finished with 19 points in 29 minutes and the whole sports world went to bed and woke up talking about him.
 
There are many lessons we could glean from the Andre Ingram story. Sounds like a good movie title, right? We can see his perseverance, his character, and the support from his family, among other things – but I want to look at the concept of WAITING. Most of us have a problem with WAITING. Are you excited about waiting in line, waiting for food, waiting on hold, or even waiting in traffic? Even when we see our destination, our goal, our desire or our hope, we can get frustrated if the timing doesn’t match what we have in mind. Just like you can’t control how long the line is, how long it takes for your food, when the annoying hold music ends, or when traffic disappears, we can’t control the timing of God.
 
Friendly reminder: Noah waited 120 years before the rain came. Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son. Joseph waited 14 years before he was released from prison for a crime he did not commit. Their stories of waiting were not easy, but they still waited. The Lord did not give up on His promises for them – He just didn’t let them know when the promises would be fulfilled. We, as believers, are promised that He has a plan for us. But what should we do so that we don’t get frustrated with WAITING?
 

Here are three practical steps to keep us from getting frustrated with WAITING:

  1. Focus on Hope – Hope gets us through difficult times. Hope keeps a smile on our face. Hope keeps our dreams alive. Hope brings out our faith in God, “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” (Hebrews 11:1) So if we focus on our hope, which comes from Jesus, then our faith grows.
  2. Go to Prayer – The tension that builds when you are waiting and waiting and waiting needs a release. We can go to God. Be honest, be real, be you, and be open. He wants us to come to Him, and while we are waiting on Him, we can rely on Him to hear and to speak to us.
  3. Rejoice in Him – Remember the times the Lord came through for you, including your relationship with Him (2 Peter 3:9). How many times has He answered your prayers? How many times He answered prayers of your friends and family?
 
Now when you reach the destination you have been WAITING for – the destination the Lord set aside for you – don’t stop WAITING on God because He “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20) What we think we are waiting on Him for might just be the beginning.