Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:18 NIV)

Yes, you read it correctly. "Blessed are all who wait for him!"

We may find it difficult to comprehend that waiting could be a blessing. We'd prefer not to wait. We don't like to wait for our food. We don't like to wait for the movie to start. We don't like to wait for answers to our questions. We do not like to wait for information.

While we don't like to wait, the prophet from God gives us three reasons why waiting really is a blessing.

We are blessed when we wait on the Lord because the Lord longs to be gracious to us. He doesn't just think about being gracious to us, He longs to be gracious. Sounds like He is looking for opportunities to be gracious to us. He longs to be gracious (kind and merciful) to us. He does not have to be gracious to us. We certainly do not deserve it. Yet, He longs to be gracious to us. That's worth waiting for.

We are blessed when we wait on the Lord because the Lord rises to show us compassion. Obviously the Lord never sleeps or slumbers (Psalm 121:4), but this statement brings to my mind the image of the Lord getting up in the morning, checking his notes, and saying, "Well, let's see what can I do to show Tom how compassionate I am today? What can I do to show Tom how sympathetic I am as he goes through a difficult day? How can I show Him how concerned I am about Tom and his family?" Or, perhaps the Amplified Bible explains it better: "He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you." Sounds like He enjoys showing us compassion.

See waiting as a blessing?

We are blessed when we wait on the Lord because the Lord is a God of justice. That reminds me that I do not need to spend a great deal of time trying to make sure that justice is handed out to people. God is a God of justice. He will take care of it. Justice is His business. Justice is His nature.

It also helps to see waiting as a blessing when we more fully understand what Isaiah had in mind with the word wait:

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! (Isaiah 30:18 Amplified Bible)

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Tom Norvell is the author of "A Norvell Note." He ministers at the East Brainerd Church of Christ in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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