Two-minute read.
Over the weekend, I spoke at a women’s conference on God’s promises. To illustrate my point, I used a bridge. When we stand on a bridge and look over the river, we can’t see the pillars supporting the structure, but we trust they exist. We know we won’t fall because the sound architecture holds us up.
In the same way, when we stand on God’s promises, we can’t see how the Lord will fulfill them, but we trust He will. Our heavenly Father keeps His promises, every one of them. We can wait with hope and patience, even though we don’t see, knowing that, in His time, the Lord will come through for us again.
Paul reminded the Romans that biblical hope gives us a confident expectation rooted in God’s promises. When we haven’t received an answer to our prayers, the Lord asks us to wait with patience and confidence, trusting the outcome we can’t yet see.
Like the bridge’s pillars, we can’t see what we hope for today, but that doesn’t mean God has forgotten us. Waiting becomes an opportunity for active trust that deepens our faith as we surrender our timeline and place our trust in our Savior’s wisdom over our own.
In my talk, I shared that I stood on Philippians 4:19, which says that God will provide all our needs out of His glorious riches in Jesus Christ. For sixteen years, I stood on that promise as I survived layoff after layoff at my company. Waiting with patient hope looked like going to work every day, thankful for another day of employment. When the time came to leave that company, I left on my own terms, not theirs. And God fulfilled His promise to provide for me through Jesus, one day at a time.
Paul wrote to a world still waiting for God’s complete restoration. Just before this verse, the apostle says, “creation itself is groaning,” as it waits for the day when the Lord makes everything right. As believers, we “grown” inwardly as we wait for the full experience of our salvation, the day the Lord completely restores us.
Until then, we stand confidently on His promises and wait with patient hope.
Journal Questions:
- What are you currently hoping and waiting for that you cannot yet see? How can you place that hope in God’s hands today?
- What makes waiting difficult for you? How might God be using this season of waiting to deepen your faith and trust in Him?
- What would it look like to wait “patiently and confidently” rather than anxiously or impatiently? What is one thing you can surrender to God as you wait?
Application:
Think of standing on God’s promises like standing on a bridge that holds you up.
