Good things come to those who wait. 

It’s what we always say when someone is waiting for an answer, a diagnosis, a job opportunity, a school acceptance. We feel helpful and confident that those on the receiving end of that cliche feel encouraged or even grateful for the wait.

I haven’t had to wait for very many things in my life. My college acceptance came in the mail the week after I submitted my application; my dad’s health scare back in 2020 was over within a month; even my marriage came quickly- only 18 months after we met. It’s been easy to offer that cliche to many other friends and family members who are in a “season of waiting” (which I think is just church talk for “I have no idea what’s next”). 

But the tides have changed and I’ve been waiting a lot lately. Like… a lot.

If I’m being honest, it sucks. I don’t have the answers or the solutions and people love to ask me, “when do you find out xyz?” It feels like that chip on my shoulder starts to rival the Grand Canyon caves when I inevitably have to answer, “I don’t know. We’re just waiting on God.” It’s a cliche in and of itself and I hate myself a little bit for it. If you’ve ever waited for God to move – and if you’ve ever felt bad because your faith dwindled in the midst of that waiting – you’re not alone. And you might find some comfort in the same place I did. 

The Highlight Reel

In Exodus, we read the incredible account of God leading the Israelites out of Egypt after 400 years in slavery. That’s a long time, and that’s a lot of waiting for God to finally do what He said He was going to do. We love the parts about the baby Moses floating down the Nile in a basket, the burning bush, and when God parts the Red Sea. 

That’s God’s mercy, right? When the sea came back over the charging Egyptians after the Israelites crossed on dry ground? When He led them through the desert by pillars of cloud and flame? Surely, that’s where God’s mercy was on display the most, right?

I mean, just look at this beautiful promise that Moses shares with the Israelites in Exodus 6:7-8,

I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.  And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.

Wow. God is really going to reclaim His people and deliver them from slavery and into the Promised Land! Surely, the Israelites were overjoyed with this news, right? 

God’s Mercy Isn’t Just in the Highlights

Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

(Exodus 6:9)

They had been waiting for so long, and working conditions had already gotten worse because of this promise. They’re over the waiting and their hearts are too hard to hear the good news that Moses had for them. It’s easy to empathize with the Israelites in this situation. After all, God’s mercy had been MIA for the past 400 years. Why should they believe that He would show up now?

And then we have to pause and take a look at our own waiting – how many promises have I missed because I was already sick of waiting? How many times has God offered me comfort in this season of waiting and I’ve completely missed it because I was already mad at Him for not moving faster?

The next several chapters detail the plagues that God sends on the Egyptians because of Pharoah’s refusal to let the Israelites go. Despite their disbelief, God shows mercy to His people: none of the Israelites got sick, none of their animals died, no hail fell on their side of the fence, and so on and so forth for 9 plagues. And yet, we don’t hear about the Israelites trusting God until they respond to His instructions to sacrifice a lamb so that their children would be spared from the 10th plague – nearly a year after their initial distrust. 

God’s Mercy Doesn’t Hinge on You

This is the part we skip over when we’re in the thick of our own waiting. We like to wonder where our Red Sea moment is, and we’re quick to blame God when nothing goes our way, when we’re stuck in the waiting. On the other hand, we’re slow to recognize Him in the details, where He’s been working the whole time. God’s mercy was already quietly at work in the earlier nine plagues. The Israelites didn’t recognize that mercy because they’d already decided that God had forgotten them. 

I’d like to tell you the Israelites did better from then on out and trusted God completely every step of the way, but they didn’t. And I’d like to tell you that I’ve learned how to perfectly depend on God and trust that His mercy is at work while I’m still waiting for answers, but I haven’t. Perhaps what we’re supposed to learn from this story isn’t a blueprint for how to always trust God, but instead, that even when we fall short, He is still merciful. 

That’s the message of the gospel, isn’t it? 

While we were still grumbling and disbelieving in Egypt, God was wearing Pharoah down. While I’m still waiting for Him to give me my answers, He’s writing the entire story. And while we were still enemies of God, He sent His perfect and holy Son to die the death that we deserved, so that we might have eternal life in Christ Jesus. That is God’s mercy. 

The Purpose of Waiting

Good things come to those who wait. 

I’m a firm believer that God has something to teach us in every season we find ourselves in. That lesson is often more valuable than the outcome of that waiting. I’m still trying to figure out what the lesson is in my current season. In the meantime, I’m trusting that God’s mercy still surrounds me, even on my bad days. And if the Israelites could miss 400 years of God’s faithfulness and still make it to the Promised Land, I think there’s hope for the rest of us.

So here’s my call to you when you wait: look around, not for the Red Sea, but for God’s hand in the details. Look for what hasn’t fallen apart but probably should have. Listen for that still small voice, assuring you that He hears you and He’s working all things for your good (Romans 8:28). God’s mercy often shows up in the silence long before it shows up in the breakthrough. 

So yes, good things do indeed come to those who wait because God is with us in the waiting. And God is good.

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