In If You Want to Walk on Water . . . , John Ortberg says that the distinctive difference between Type T (thrill-seeking) and Type W (water-walking) personalities is that Type W’s have learned to wait before acting. When we step out in faith to accept God’s calling, we might immediately get confirmation of our decision. More often, however, God has good reasons for not moving at our frantic, worldly pace- what Robert Levine refers to as the honko-second, the time that elapses between a traffic light turning green and the car behind you ‘reminding’ you of that fact. Or, as John Ortberg puts it, we are “double espresso followers of a decaf Sovereign.”
Lewis Smedes, in his book Standing on the Promises, eloquently describes the human dilemma of waiting on the Lord:
Waiting is our destiny as creature who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for.
We wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light,
We wait in fear for a happy ending we cannot write.
We wait for a not yet that feels like a not ever.
Waiting is the hardest part of hope.
St. Paul encourages us”: “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:25)
