08/21/2026
Social Session #4
WAITING: It’s not exactly fun! (By David Gouge)
When it comes to the healing of broken bones and severe injury it takes time to heal and recover. Likewise, when it comes to healing from a broken heart or from severe family trauma and drama it can often take an even longer time to heal and recover. The waiting that’s involved in these instances is not something that any one of us is a big fan of, as, if truth be told, none of us are all that great with waiting. Am I right? Think back for a second to a time where you had to wait a long time for something you really wanted to have or do. Did you get frustrated, impatient, or even angry with the waiting? Waiting isn’t fun at all and in our culture today we are even less patient than ever before with all the instant gratification of our day! Even if it is for something totally awesome and great like a healed or restored relationship, or a healed or restored heart and mind we’re not fans of the wait. When COVID struck in 2020 there were lots of changes to all our lives and lots of waiting that we had to do in many ways with many things as life was kind of shutdown for a time and the norm was definitely upset in certain ways for quite a while. Now we may have understood, but it was still incredibly frustrating and hard. The processes of healing, restoration, and forgiveness can all take quite a while too. There is a story in the Bible that you’ve probably heard of where a godly couple waited and waited and waited for something God had promised them. It was something they really wanted but as the years rolled by it seemed more and more out of reach. God had promised an old and worn-out Abram and Sarai a baby and in fact He’d promised them a nation that would be His people and bless all people yet as the years and miles racked up as they traveled at God’s direction in life to the place God would give Abram and his descendants there was no baby and no nation, only more waiting. In this it would have been easy to have given up on that dream and hope, right? Certainly, and who would have blamed them! The waiting can be agonizing. Numerous time and places in PSALMS we see the agony of waiting on God to act and move being conveyed. Places like PSALM 13:1 which says, “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? (NLT2)” And PSALM 90:13 that says, “Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. (NIV2011)” Sometimes help, hope, and healing feel like a long time in coming, but hang on!
In God’s time and God’s way God always shows up and steps in to act. It happened with Abraham and Sarah, and just when no one thought that it could or would. In GENESIS 18:10-13 the Bible says, “The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?” 13 But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’ 14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.” (CBS)” And, low and behold roughly a year later Isaac was born and the nation of Israel was birthed, though it would take several more years and generations of waiting for this to fully happen. In GENESIS 21:1-3 the Bible says, “The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. (CBS)” When we find ourselves waiting for God to show up in our lives, in our hurts, and in our relationships in big ways or we’re just waiting for things to simply get better in our messed up and confusing state we need to remember that God is always there with us, God is for us, and God will always come through, though, we just might have to wait a bit as timing is everything with God. Even if it seems too late, too impossible, or just too plain crazy don’t give up on God because God is never giving up on you and the healing or recovery that you need. Keep on waiting for the Lord. PSALM 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. (NASB)”.
In the times when we don’t wait, things often get messier and worse at the hands of our impatience and our interjections. Sure, we may have great intentions and ideas, but it’s still wrong when we act when God would have us wait and let Him act. When Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands in an attempt to help God out and answer His promise themselves through a sort of surrogate mother the result was added strife, stress, and struggle, but God still did not give up on them. And, even when both Abraham and Sarah laughed at God in wavering hope when He said they would have a kid at basically a 100 years of age, God did not give up on them and nor did He stop working. This same God is not going to give up on you, your struggles, or your family’s trauma or drama either! It’s not in His makeup to give up. Remember that while we were still sinners and at just the right time Scripture tells us that God sent His one and only Son Jesus to redeem you from your sins. This same God is working to redeem whatever mess and wound or any number of wounds you may be struggling with right now! As PSALM 27:14 said, “Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. (NASB)”
This God upon whom we lean is a loving God and a waiting God and just as He patiently waits for us or others to come to Him, He patiently waits with us when we have to wait. Now sure nobody likes to wait around. Especially for things we really want or for things we really just want to be over, like the pain or sorrow we might be feeling. I get it as I have been there and done that too. In fact, Adrienne and I are there still now grieving a “living death” with our youngest. Waiting isn’t any fun, but waiting has a purpose. Waiting reveals if we really trust God and how deeply we trust God, and it stretches our patience, which by the way is a fruit of the spirit that we are to have in this life. All of these things are good things! Not always easy things, fun things, or pleasant things, but always good things! No matter our age or situation we aren’t really big fans of waiting or of patience so know that you are not alone. Patience isn’t fun most of the time as it’s hard and it hurts. Yet patience is good because God is patient and we are to be like Him and in time God makes all things new and He works to bring about a good from it all. As we wait for our pain to pass, the promise to be fulfilled, or a certain struggle to subside remember that God is always with you and for you if you are His Child. It may take time, it may seem impossible, and it may even seem crazy but God will come through for you in the way that is best and right. I hope that you are encouraged by this thought now and in the days to come. Life is tough, the trials trying, and the heartache tragic and it’s always going to be that way in one way or another I fear this side of Heaven as we live in a broken world full of broken people, but rest assured that God is with you always!
The restoration, the healing, and the forgiveness may be long in coming, but never give up hope and keep on looking to the horizon for the impossible to come your way. In LUKE 15:20 we see the father of the prodigal son daily looking to the horizon in love and with hope of his son’s return. And one day it says, “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. (NLT2)” He waited and waited, and one day it happened. We don’t know how long the wait was, it could have been months or years, but the father never gave up and in the end his hope and his waiting paid off with the one he loved restored and healing at home. Things were never likely quite the same as before, but the family and the situation was resolved and restored at long last with lessons learned and faith deepened by all. So once again let me offer us the encouragement of PSALM 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. (NASB)”
Another major component of every recovery session is music and lyrics which are a powerful key to the soul. We call this feature, SONGS OF STRENGTH. This month’s song of strength goes right along with what we’ve talked about here this evening regarding the thought of waiting. It’s a song by Apollo LTD titled “Patient” which I hope you will listen to and meditate on the lyrics of letting each word touch your heart.
My lyric video for Apollo LTD's new song "Patient"This is one of ...