35,000.
That’s how many decisions the average adult makes in a day. You probably didn’t even realize you were making that many choices, did you? If I asked you to name twenty of them right now, you probably couldn’t.
But the barrage of decisions is constant, from the clothes you put on in the morning to where you take your lunch break, to who you talk to throughout the day. The options are as endless as the questions.
Some decisions are trivial, like single or double knotting your shoes. But some are vastly more important, like which car to buy, which job to take, etc.
And we go round and round about which choice to make. We make pro-con lists, ask for advice from wise friends, and sometimes just go with our gut.
Right or left? Up or down? Yes or no? White or wheat?
But have you considered the possibility that the best choice for right now is neither one?
The right choice might be waiting.
In his famous poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost paints the picture of choice very clearly. The traveler in the poem comes to a fork in the road and has to choose between the two paths. The traveler spends a portion of the poem surveying both options, inspecting the qualities of both, before finally choosing the less-traveled path.
But what if Frost was missing something. What if, in life, there’s a third option?
The Bible is abundantly clear on the importance and value of waiting.
“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:25-26).
“Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).
“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:5).
“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope” (Psalm 130:5).
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me” (Micah 7:7).
How many times do we make a decision because we think a decision has to be made? I have to choose something! But why? If the Lord is calling you to stay put, you should stay put.
Another common misconception is that waiting automatically equals idleness. We think that if we don’t choose something, if we don’t go with A or B, we must be wasting time.
But what if you grow closer to God in the meantime? What if there are areas that need work right where you are? What if the right answer is coming, it’s just not here today, right now?
How many of the regrettable decisions you have made do you wish you would have waited just a little while longer to make? Would waiting longer have brought more clarity, peace, or wisdom to your decision?
There are many good reasons to wait, and many good things that can come out of waiting, if you’re simply patient enough to try.
