Waiting sucks! I don’t know anyone that would volunteer as tribute to wait, especially for extended periods of time. If anything we will go to extreme lengths to avoid waiting, even to the point of causing further delay. After all, we want what we want and we want it now. But no matter how we feel about waiting, learning to wait well is a sure way to make the waiting room less miserable. Speaking of waiting, I know Someone that knew someone that could teach us a thing or two…
In Genesis 40, we find Joseph, a young man wrongfully imprisoned, interpreting the dreams of a cupbearer and baker. After interpreting their dreams, he requests for the cupbearer to remember him and petition Pharaoh to have him released from prison.
Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. – Genesis 40:14 ESV
I imagine the hope that gripped Joseph’s heart at the possibility of being released from prison, and his anticipation as he awaited word from the cupbearer or someone in Pharaoh’s court. Then I picture his disappointment as he faded into the shadows of forgottenness with each passing day of silence. Freedom seemed right within his reach… until it wasn’t.
Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. – Genesis 40:22 ESV
One window of hope. Two years of silence.
Joseph received his God dream when he was 17 but he didn’t enter the palace until he was 30 years old. It isn’t known for certain how much time Joseph spent in prison but we do know that he waited two years after interpreting the cupbearer’s dream. So for someone that had been waiting for 11 years by this time, waiting for even one more day would have been agonizing; especially when it seemed like the promise was right within reach. Yet Joseph would wait two more years.
I don’t have to strain to imagine how Joseph may have felt. Being forgotten by the people around us is painful, but what do we do when it seems like God has forgotten us too? When our circumstances remain unchanged day after day we discover a paper thin line between waiting and being forgotten. However, there’s a huge difference between feeling forgotten and being forgotten.
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. - Genesis 8:1 ESV
Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. - Genesis 30:22 ESV
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. - Exodus 2:24 ESV
They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. - 1 Samuel 1:19 ESV
God doesn’t lose track of time or fall asleep on the throne, so if He doesn’t forget how can He remember? Consider it a laying out of the red carpet. When God remembered Noah, He dried up the land after the flood. When He remembered the Israelites, He delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. When He remembered Rachel and Hannah, He opened their wombs. In other words, when the appointed time arrives for God to show up and show out - He remembers.
Therefore, the cupbearer’s forgetfulness had less to do with his oversight and more to do with God’s sovereign plan and timing. Joseph wasn’t released from prison just for freedom’s sake, there was a purpose attached to his release that became realized once he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. Until the pivotal moment that Joseph was brought before Pharaoh he remained locked away in prison seemingly forgotten.
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. - Genesis 39:21 ESV
On the surface it may have looked like Joseph was wasting away in prison, but even there he was on assignment. God grants Joseph favor with the prison warden to the point that the warden places Joseph in charge of everything and everyone in the prison. Although Joseph was in prison “waiting for the promise,” he was walking in purpose the entire time. So before we devalue our waiting season, let’s remember that purpose is attached to every step taken in faithful obedience to God.
If you find yourself waiting long then you’re in good company. Like Joseph, maybe you’ve asked only to be met with a deafening silence. Yet I’m reminded that God’s silence doesn’t mean His absence. Just as He was with Joseph in the pit, Potiphar’s house, prison, and the palace - He’s also with us in every season. Nevertheless, that doesn’t make the weight of waiting any less heavy. So what should we do if we’re experiencing waiting room fatigue? Take a simple remedy of remembering…
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. - Psalm 77:11 ESV
I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law. - Psalm 119:5 ESV
Then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. - Deuteronomy 6:12 ESV
Remembering that God never abandons or forsakes His children soothes the wounds of forgottenness. Remembering who He is and what He’s already done sustains our hope amidst hopelessness. Remembering that He’s always working on our behalf strengthens us to keep going when we’re weary.
Lastly, a key truth to remember in our waiting is that waiting is good!
Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, waiting sucks, but when I look up my perspective is changed. For example, God could have created the entire universe in one day but He didn’t. Jesus could have started His ministry earlier than He did but He knew that His time had not yet come. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says that “there is a time for every matter [activity] under heaven.” If God established time and set everything for a time then no matter how it may feel or seem to me - it is good.
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40:31 ESV
The Hebrew word for wait, qavah, means to bind together, tarry, wait eagerly, or to look upon. Qavah is related to another Hebrew word, qav, which means cord. So by replacing the terms in the verse we get, “they who bind themselves to the Lord shall renew their strength.”
Clearly the waiting that Isaiah is referring to isn’t the same waiting we do in a fast food line. When I picture a person being bound, the cord is tied tightly enough that they’re unable to get loose. But even if someone agreed to be bound, any moving, twisting, or wiggling would loosen the strength of the cord. So if a qav begins to loosen, what is there to tighten it?
Qavah for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; qavah for the LORD! - Psalm 27:14 ESV
I qavah for the LORD, my soul qavah, and in His word I hope. - Psalm 130:5 ESV
I qavah patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. - Psalm 40:1 ESV
Waiting is active. It isn’t comprised of idly watching the time pass or withdrawing into seclusion. Waiting is intentional. It’s an act of binding ourselves to God which secures us to everything we need. (Matthew 6:33) Waiting is more than anticipating what lies ahead, it’s clinging to the One that is always near.
I know the dissatisfaction of attaching myself to an imperfect peace, conditional love, disappointing hope, incomplete joy, and weak strength; until I placed my eyes on the One that is peace, love, hope, joy, and strength. Likewise, if you’ve been looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places, look up! If your eyes are fixed on the storm around you, look up! If you’re feeling weary in the waiting room or forgotten in the silence, look up! Fix your eyes and your qav to the One that IS everything you’ll ever need.
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, thank You for being the Source for everything that I need. Help me to find complete satisfaction in You alone. When I feel forgotten, help me to remember that my feelings don’t dictate how you feel about me. May I turn to You for strength and comfort when I’m weary. Help me bind myself to You so that I may wait well in every season. In Jesus name. Amen.
