The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Surrendered Business

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got it right in their hit song: The waiting is the hardest part.

Business involves many times of waiting. We get a verbal approval from a prospect and wait for the order. We interview a great potential employee and wait for them to come on board and get up to speed. We create a new offering and wait to see the fruit. We send a large invoice and wait for the check to arrive.

I heard one of my favorite pastors, Kris Vallotton say that there are two areas we need faith. The first is faith for breakthrough. Second is our faith as we wait for the breakthrough.

I’ve discovered that I’m good at the first part. I can believe for breakthrough. I can see a vision and take action.

Where I struggle is in the second part. How do I wait in a posture of faith that the breakthrough will come?

Where is my heart in the session of waiting? My heart can become wobbly. There are moments of confidence that things will come together. Then, there are moments of doubt that can become times of despair. These moments can become habitual. Then we can end up sabotaging the breakthrough we so deeply want.

How can we wait well?

In the famous chapter of Proverbs on wisdom we get some solid advice:

“If you wait at wisdom’s doorway, longing to hear a word for every day, joy will break forth within you as you listen for what I’ll say.” (Proverbs 8:34 TPT)

Wait at wisdom’s doorway.

What if the key to waiting well is less about how we wait and more about where we wait?

What if we could literally wait at wisdom’s doorway?

Over the years I’ve heard it taught that Jesus is the personification of wisdom. When you go to the earlier parts of Proverbs 8 you discover that wisdom was present and actively involved when the world was created. It makes me think of Colossians where Paul talks about Jesus’ role in creation: “For by Him all things were created.” (Colossians 1:16) It’s not a big leap to see that wisdom’s door is actually Jesus’ door. If it’s not the same door, I bet they are at least neighbors.

When we are sitting at wisdom’s door, we are waiting for Jesus to invite us in to speak to us during the waiting.

The proverb goes on to say that joy will break forth inside me as I listen to what wisdom has to say.

That’s incredibly helpful. Let’s be honest. In the times of waiting, joy is often the last thing I’m feeling. Worry and anxiety are simmering right below the surface. While I usually do a decent job at suppressing these emotions, they still simmer in the background. What if I could neutralize them with joy?

Being filled with joy in the waiting is purely radical. And, it is possible!

How do I get there? Listen to God during the times of waiting. When worry bubbles to the surface, wait at wisdom’s door and listen for the voice of God.

I stumbled into this the other night at 3:30 a.m. After waking up to use the restroom, I found thoughts about the success (or let’s be honest, failure) of a new business initiative bubbling to the surface of my heart. It was a moment to choose to go full steam into a sleepless hour of anxiety. Or, I could sit at wisdom’s door.

A few minutes later as I settled into my heart to wait, I heard the following: “Set your face like a flint. Keep moving forward. This is going to be great. Go back to sleep!”

Thank you, Wisdom!

When the waiting becomes the hardest part, we are invited to sit at wisdom’s doorstep and listen. In doing this, we have the opportunity to be filled with joy as Jesus speaks into our situation.

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