Years, sometimes. You're in good company.
How long? · When he doesn't come · The long middle · What they did while they waited · What he said about the wait · When it came · A whole life of waiting · Still waiting
The oldest question there is, asked out loud.
How long, LORD? Are you going to forget me for ever? How long are you going to hide your face? How long do I carry this, sad every single day?
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me?
Replying to @david
Still trusting your love, though. Still going to sing.
But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.
The LORD spoke to me in a vision. Told me not to be afraid. He’s my shield, and my reward, a huge one. And I said what was on my mind. What can you give me? I’ve got no children. A servant in my house, Eliezer, is going to get everything I own.
After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Replying to @abraham
He said Eliezer won’t be my heir. My own son will. Then he took me outside and told me to look up and count the stars, if I could. That’s how many my descendants will be.
Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
My husband Elkanah has two wives. Every year we go up to Shiloh to worship, and every year Peninnah makes sure I know she has children and I don’t. Every single year. I end up crying and can’t eat.
Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival would provoke her viciously to taunt her. And this went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival taunted her until she wept and would not eat.
Replying to @hannah
Hannah, love. Why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why so down? Aren’t I worth more to you than ten sons?
“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
Short version. Hurry, God. Come quickly and help me.
David@davidWaited and waited for the LORD. He leaned down and heard me. Pulled me out of the mud, put my feet on a rock, and gave me a new song.For the choirmaster. Of David. To bring remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Hurry, O LORD, to help me!
Sometimes the wait makes no sense at all.
We’ve sent word to Jesus. Just that the one he loves is ill. He’ll know who we mean.
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
Replying to @marthaofbethany
If anyone can help, it’s him.
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
Two days since the message came. We haven’t moved.
So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,
Replying to @johnzebedee
He hasn’t said why.
So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,
A Hebrew in prison read my dream: three days and I’d be back serving Pharaoh. He was right. He asked me to remember him when I got out. I forgot. For two whole years.
Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation. The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him. After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,
Four days since we laid him in the tomb. And word’s just reached the house: Jesus is on the road outside the village.
When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home.
Replying to @bethany.neighbour
Now? After four days?
When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb.
Most of waiting is ordinary days.
Worked seven years for Rachel. They felt like a few days, I loved her that much.
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
Seven years. The wedding feast. And in the morning: it’s Leah.
Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.” So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast. But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant. When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”
Replying to @jacob
It’s not done round here, marrying off the younger before the firstborn. Finish the wedding week with this one, and you can have Rachel as well. For another seven years’ work, mind.
Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”
Incense hour. Big crowd out here in the courtyard, all of us praying, waiting for the priest to come back out.
And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside.
Replying to @praying.outside
He’s been in there ages.
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he took so long in the temple.
Sent out a raven. It just kept flying back and forth. Then a dove. Nowhere to land, so she came back and I reached out and brought her in. A week later, again. That evening she came back with a fresh olive leaf in her beak. A week after that, she didn’t come back at all.
After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth. Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth. So he reached out his hand and brought her back inside the ark. Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. And Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time she did not return to him.
The whole of creation has been groaning, like a woman in labour, right up to now. And so do we, waiting.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
The priest thought I was drunk. My lips were moving and no sound was coming out. Told him no, not a drop. I was pouring my heart out to the LORD.
Hannah@hannah · ShilohWent to the house of the LORD and wept. Told him: if you’ll look at me and give me a son, I’ll give him back to you. His whole life.As Hannah kept on praying before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!” “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman, for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.”
Replying to @hannah
In my defence, your lips were moving and nothing was coming out.
Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!”
Pharaoh’s cupbearer and his baker were in prison with me, and one morning they both looked miserable. They’d had dreams, and there was nobody to explain them. Isn’t explaining dreams God’s business? So I said: tell me.
both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?” “We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
There's a judge who doesn't fear God or care what anyone thinks. A widow keeps coming to him: get me justice! For a while he won't. Then he thinks: I'll give her justice, or she'll wear me out.
“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Otherwise, she will wear me out with her perpetual requests.’”
Replying to @jesus
Why he told that one: so they'd always pray and never give up. If even that judge gives in, won't God see that his people get justice when they cry out to him day and night?
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them? I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
But me, I’m watching for the LORD. I’m waiting for the God who saves me. My God will hear me.
But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
Replying to @apsalmist
I wait for the Lord more than the night watch waits for morning. More than the night watch waits for morning.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Temple by day, and the rest of the time we’re in the upstairs room where we’re staying. The eleven of us, the women, his mother Mary, his brothers. Mostly we pray. Together, all day.
John@johnzebedeeWalked back to Jerusalem full of joy. We’re in the temple every day now, praising God.Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near the city, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. praising God continually in the temple.
Replying to @johnzebedee
His brothers. Yes. There was a time our family went to bring him home because we thought he’d lost his mind. Now we’re in this room, praying with his friends.
With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”
My way is hidden from the LORD. My God doesn’t see what’s happening to me.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?
Replying to @exile.babylon
Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The LORD is the everlasting God. He made the ends of the earth. He never gets tired. He gives strength to people who are worn out. Even the young get tired and trip and fall. But those who wait for the LORD will get their strength back. They’ll rise up on wings like eagles. They’ll run and not get tired. They’ll walk and not faint.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out. He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
He answered. Write the vision down. Make it plain on tablets, so someone can read it at a run. It’s waiting for its time. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will come, and it won’t be late.
Then the LORD answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it. For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.
Wait for the LORD. Be strong. Be brave. Wait for the LORD.
Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
And still the LORD is waiting to be kind to you. Whether you turn right or left, you’ll hear a voice behind you: this is the way. Walk in it.
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promise, the way some people think of slow. He’s being patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to turn back to him.
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
There’s a time for everything. A season for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. To plant and to pull up. To kill and to heal. To tear down and to build. To cry and to laugh. To mourn and to dance. To hold someone close, and to hold back. To keep and to throw away. To tear and to mend. To keep quiet and to speak. To love and to hate. For war, and for peace.
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to count as lost, a time to keep and a time to discard, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Right on time, as Sarah put it.
It’s a boy. Right on time, like God said. His name is Isaac.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised. And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.
Replying to @sarah
A hundred years old, and I’ve got a son.
When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
He’s here. A boy. His name is Samuel, because I asked the LORD for him.
So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.”
Replying to @hannah
I said I hoped the God of Israel would give you what you’d asked for. He did.
“Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.” I prayed for this boy, and since the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him,
Five months I’ve kept to the house. I’m ready to say it now. I’m pregnant. At my age. The Lord has done this for me. All those years of people looking at me like that, and he’s taken it away.
After these days, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She declared, “The Lord has done this for me. In these days He has shown me favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Replying to @elizabeth
Elizabeth! So that’s why we haven’t seen you!
After these days, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She declared,
He’s coming out. Lazarus is walking out of the tomb. Hands and feet still bound in strips of linen. A cloth round his face.
The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
Replying to @bethany.neighbour
Four days. He’s been in there four days.
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.”
All of us together in the house. Then a sound from the sky like a violent wind, and it fills the whole place. Then something like flames of fire, splitting apart and settling on each one of us. And we’re all speaking. In languages none of us have ever learnt.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Four hundred and thirty years in Egypt. To the very day. And we walk out.
Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
Replying to @moses
The LORD kept watch all night to bring us out. So every year, on this night, we keep watch for him.
Because the LORD kept a vigil that night to bring them out of the land of Egypt, this same night is to be a vigil to the LORD, to be observed by all the Israelites for the generations to come.
Pool of Bethesda. Thirty-eight years ill, lying there with all the others. A man asked if I wanted to get well. I said I've got nobody to help me into the water. He said: get up, pick up your mat and walk. So I did.
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda. On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had spent a long time in this condition, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.” Then Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day,
Replying to @bethesdapool
It is the Sabbath. You are not permitted to carry your mat.
so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.”
I’ve been waiting a long time for God to comfort Israel. The Holy Spirit told me I wouldn’t die until I’d seen the Lord’s Messiah. Today the Spirit sent me to the temple.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law,
Replying to @simeon
A couple came in with their baby. I took him in my arms. Lord, you can let me go now, in peace, like you promised. I’ve seen your rescue with my own eyes. A light for the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.
Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law, Simeon took Him in his arms and blessed God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”
Eighty-four years old. Married seven years, a widow ever since, and I don’t leave the temple. I worship night and day, fasting and praying. And today I saw him. Thank you, God.
There was also a prophetess named Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was well along in years. She had been married for seven years, and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Replying to @anna
I’m telling everyone here who’s been waiting for God to set Jerusalem free. He’s here.
Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Some of it hasn't happened yet. They're waiting too.
Couldn’t have children, and way past the age for it. But he’d promised, and I knew he keeps his word.
Sarah@sarahA year ago I laughed because it was impossible. Now God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about this is going to laugh with me.By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.
We don’t even need to tell people about you. Everywhere we go, they’re already telling us how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.
For not only did the message of the Lord ring out from you to Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone out to every place, so that we have no need to say anything more. For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.
Replying to @paul
It’s true. Idols gone. Waiting.
For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.
Yes, I’m coming soon.
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Replying to @jesus
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Still waiting? He hasn't forgotten you.
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