Book Review: Waiting Isn't a Waste - Highly Recommend

How thrilling to find another book by Mark Vroegop. Last year, I highly recommended his book on lament, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. Once again, I felt drawn to his subject; this time, it was because we are waiting for God to break the chains of addiction that bind our son. In Waiting Isn't a Waste: The Surprising Comfort of Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life, Vroegop unpacks something we'd all rather avoid. There's treasure in learning how to wait well. 

I started this book the morning after a full day of waiting. Knowing our son's wedding would keep us up late, we rejected the early morning direct flight home and took one departing at 8 p.m. After spending the day sitting around in the hotel lobby, they delayed our departure another hour. We headed to the airport anyway and waited again. As we sat near our gate, watching the flight before ours load, we noticed a disturbance on the floor by the doorway. A young girl of about 7 or 8 was pitching a fit. As far as we could tell, her mother was attempting to put her on the plane by herself (a required parental visit?). She was having none of it. After much cajoling and crying, she boarded the plane, holding the hand of another young passenger. Those waiting for that flight and for our flight all held a collective breath. She held up the process for at least a half hour. We were weary and eager to return home, so when we saw the girl break through the entry way yet again, demanding her mother, it stretched our patience. We had visions of our flight cancelled, requiring a night at the airport. The girl eventually returned home with her mother and our flight departed at 9:45 (we didn't arrive home until 1:20 a.m.). It was as if God primed the pump for my reception of this book.

In our pressurized world, waiting feels inconvenient and annoying. Normal sympathies waned as we saw our expectations thwarted by this poor child's plight. Waiting Isn't a Waste is very well-structured. Vroegop encourages the reader with the key message, "Don't waste your waiting!" He breaks the "how" of waiting down into 6 characteristics: honestly: waiting is hard; frequently: waiting is common; thoughtfully: waiting is biblical; patiently: waiting is slow; intentionally: waiting is commanded; and collectively: waiting is relational.

Thanks to reading this book, I feel encouraged to embrace the gaps as opportunities to put my hope in God's timing and rescue. It's hard to live with only enough manna for the day at hand. But, as Vroegop points out, "God designed waiting in the world and in redemption [Christ was 3 days in the tomb] so that he's central, not you or me." Our desire for control often leads to anger, anxiety, or apathy when faced with times of waiting. Vroegop recommends, "Intentionally rehearse what [is] true about God." He suggests making a map of God's faithfulness, actively practicing waiting, and shifting your focus from what you don't know about the future to what you do know about God.

As Vroegop observes, biblical waiting is "active and intentional," "purposeful and productive," and trusting and hopeful. How I need more patience when I wait! I loved the definition given for patience, the Greek word "makrothumia." It is "a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation." Perhaps I wasted my waiting on the day after Bryce's wedding, but I don't want to waste the possibly lengthy wait for our prodigal to return to God's desired path for his life. When our future seems uncertain, may I rest in the certainty of God's sovereign hand orchestrating and carrying us through every moment.