God likes to make people wait. Have you noticed that? When you pray, you usually don’t receive what you ask for right away. When you make plans, they never work out on your timetable. God likes to make people wait.
As Moses and the Israelites traveled to the Promised Land, God set up an interesting system. When the cloud of his presence was over the tabernacle, the people had to wait. When the cloud set out from over the tabernacle, they could go. “Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted they would set out” (Numbers 9:21-22).
How would you have handled that? It sounds like a lot of waiting! What was God teaching his people? To depend completely on him. To trust completely in his plan and in his timing and in his will. That’s why God likes to make people wait.
Believers waited thousands of years for the Savior—Jesus!—to come. Christians have waited two thousand years for Jesus to come again. All that waiting gives God’s people a wonderful opportunity: To learn to depend on God. To learn to trust in God’s promises. God likes to make people wait.
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