Book Review: Waiting Isn't a Waste
I have a friend waiting to get pregnant. She’s had multiple miscarriages and procedures. She’s prayed and been prayed over. A child is a good thing. We know God loves babies and families. Her prayer is not ungodly. So, we continue to pray, and she continues to wait.
We’re all waiting for something.
My seasons of waiting have revealed to me just how much I like to have control of my life, and how little control I have. I wish I could say I’ve learned to release control and wait patiently. Maybe, by degrees. Mostly, I’m still practicing waiting on God.
When I heard about the new book by Mark Vroegop, Waiting Isn’t a Waste: The Surprising Comfort of Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life, I knew I needed to read it. The title alone spoke to my heart. Goodness, my life has its share of uncertainties! I want real comfort in the midst of those uncertainties.
From the start, I was in good company. Vroegop makes it clear that he, too, isn’t good at waiting. I appreciated the kinship he offered throughout the book.
He starts by defining waiting: Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.
He then unpacks how we can wait on God with faith:
Honestly: waiting is hard
Frequently: waiting is common
Thoughtfully: waiting is biblical
Patiently: waiting is slow
Intentionally: waiting is commanded
Collectively: waiting is relational
The book was approachable, practicable, and theologically spot-on. I appreciated that it wasn’t a treatise on why I should learn to love waiting. It was more of a perspective shift to embrace waiting as an opportunity to express obedience to the Lord with hope-filled, gutsy faith. (p.76)
“Waiting embraces God as a refuge while the answers are not clear and may never be.” (p.53)
“Patient waiting embraces what could happen in us more than what’s happening to us.” (p.64)
The author leaned heavily on Anderw Murray and his book, Waiting on God! Daily Messages for a Month and on the psalms.
“Dear Christian! do you not begin to see that waiting is not one among a number of Christian virtues, to be thought of from time to time, but that it expresses that disposition which lies at the very root of the Christian life?” [my emphasis] — Andrew Murray, Waiting on God!
To top it all off, and with a pastor’s heart of hospitality, the author finished with wonderfully helpful lists in the Appendix.
I would recommend this short book to everyone, especially those in the midst of a particularly difficult wait.
CAUTIONS
None.
SPECIAL INTERESTS
The author is a pastor and the current president of The Gospel Coalition.
For a brief introduction to the book, I recommend this conversation with the author on The Daily Grace podcast.
STAR RATING
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars: With a short chapter for each type of “how,” this book was well laid out, easy to understand, immediately useful, and completely relatable. This one is going on my “refer to often” shelf.
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