The Waiting Place:

Psalm 39:7
And now, Lord, for what do I wait?  My hope is in You.

I was reading a Dr. Seuss book to my daughter last night called, Oh the Places You Will Go.  It's interesting the things God chooses to speak to us.  For me, it was this children's story.

I came across this section where, in his brilliance, Dr. Seuss describes "The Waiting Place".  Across the journey of life, and all the places one can choose to go- there is a useless place where people just sit around....and wait:

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

I love his description of the waiting place.  There is so much truth to the idea that waiting can be a useless waste of time.  People just sitting around and waiting.  Waiting for something to happen.  Looking ahead at the future and what's to come.  Waiting, hoping, and wishing...

And while they sit around and wait....life passes them by. 


You might feel like one of those people, stuck in the waiting place.  There may be something you have been longing for, something you have asked God for...that has never been fulfilled.  You may be so fixated on what it is that you are waiting on, that you have lost your desire for what IS. 

Jim Elliot puts it this way when he says, "Don't let your longing slay the appetite of your living". 


For many of us, our longings can squelch our desire for living.  Our longings can overtake our reason for being.  The waiting game turns out to be a very dangerous thing.

But for those who put their hope in the Lord, the waiting game doesn't have to be a waste of time.  God promises that He can be trusted, no matter what it is that you are waiting on.  He promises to be the hope for anyone who finds themselves waiting.  At the end of our longings and desires, He is there...ready to satisfy and meet everyone of them with Himself.

May God give you the grace to see the Hope that you have in Him...and may He give you the desire and strength to enjoy your life, while you wait.