Tag Archives: wait

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Waiting Without Withering | Bible Gleanings | September 27-28, 2025

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True love waits, but it might nearly kill you. In 2016, a man named Alexander Cirk determined to see his online girlfriend five-thousand miles away in China. He booked a flight and sent his sweetheart photos of his ticket and dreamed of embracing her. But when he arrived, he embraced no one—his darling was nowhere to be found. 

Assuming she was running late, Cirk waited for her in the airport. And he waited for ten days until, according to NBC News, “authorities reportedly took a frail-looking Cirk to a local hospital for treatment.” When his girlfriend was eventually tracked down, she thought he was joking about the trip! Two lessons arise from this: (1) be careful with online dating—you might end up in the hospital and in the hole, and (2) waiting is incredibly difficult. And the latter lesson is one that the Lord teaches us throughout His word.

We are commanded in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” We must wait with patience—for answers to prayer (Ps. 40:1), for God’s guidance (Prov. 3:5-6), for deliverance from tribulations (Ps. 37:7), for the provision of our needs (Ps. 33:20), for justice to be done (Rom. 12:19), and for the fulfillment of His plan and promises (Ps. 138:8). And waiting is particularly challenging because we are conditioned against it. We can microwave our supper, send a text or e-mail instantaneously, and receive packages from Amazon in two days. But there is no fast-forward button on God’s plan (Eccl. 3:11).

But although waiting is hard, it is also holy. Waiting provides an opportunity to stretch out our faith across time. Waiting expresses trust in God’s goodness and wisdom, as waiting essentially says, “God knows better than I do. My life and times are in His hands” (cf. Ps. 31:15). And thankfully, we do not have to wither while waiting, for God promises to strengthen us: “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).

Jacob of old waited fourteen years for Rachel, but it “seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” (Gen. 29:20). And when we believe that God and His good plan are worth waiting for, how long we must wait will matter very little. As the Puritan George Swinnock wisely stated, “To lengthen my patience is the best way to shorten my troubles.” That is, the more we resolve to wait and trust in the Lord’s perfect timing, the less we will think about how long our suffering must last. Waiting is worthwhile, so let us take our eyes off of our clocks and calendars and fix them upon our Creator whose timing is always perfectly precise.

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs, Susie, Aries, and Dot. Brandon and Dakota are also foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and a religious columnist for the Advance Yeoman newspaper in Ballard County, Kentucky. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. His columns are also featured in the Times-Argus newspaper of Central City, Kentucky, West Kentucky News of western Kentucky, and the online blog, Reforming the Heart.

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Almost Home | Bible Gleanings – June 17-18, 2023

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On lengthy road trips, I often groan and grumble about the rigors of long travel, and my wife will always reassure me, saying, “Just a little while longer—we are almost home.” And it never fails to cheer me up, no matter how far away we are from home. Because of that reminder, I keep my foot on the gas, my eyes on the road, and the guiding map on my GPS. And all the way, I am encouraged in my heart because I know the road won’t go on forever. Indeed, home will be just around the corner.

All who are redeemed by faith in Christ are headed home, too. We are destined for our Father’s heavenly house. As Jesus assured, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2). The Bible even says that we are headed for a place not built with human hands: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). In fact, one day we will “be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). 

But right now, we aren’t at home. We are sojourners traveling up the rough and rocky road of our Christian pilgrimage—and it is not easy. We often grow tired and exhausted on the road of righteousness (Gal. 6:9). We sometimes have to wait when we wish we were moving forward, much like being stuck in traffic (Psalm 27:14). But we need only to remember the biblical truth that we are almost home.

We cannot be certain of how close we are, of course. But we can be certain that we are closer to our heavenly home-going with every passing hour. Every evening sunset brings us closer to the day when the Son will shine brightly upon us (Malachi 4:2 Rev. 22:5). Every night of sleep brings us closer to the day when we shall rest from our labors (Rev. 14:13). We may be years or only seconds away from entering our eternal home, but no matter what, we are almost there.

And thus, we need to keep our eyes on the highway of holiness and our heads held high in faith, allowing the guiding map of holy Scripture to direct us to our heavenly home. And all the while, we may sing the words of William Hunter’s hymn, I Feel Like Traveling On:

“My heav’nly home is bright and fair,

I feel like traveling on.

Nor pain, nor death can enter there,

I feel like traveling on.

Yes, I feel like traveling on,

I feel like traveling on;

My heav’nly home is bright and fair,

I feel like traveling on.”

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

For more devotional entries like this, check out Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features 100 daily devotionals gleaned from God’s word: