Not that long ago, I stepped outside before sunrise because I couldn’t sleep.
There wasn’t anything dramatic going on in my life. No crisis. No breaking news. Just a quiet restlessness I couldn’t quite name. So I poured a cup of coffee and walked out into the dark, expecting nothing more than a few minutes of silence before the day began.
The horizon was still gray when I first looked up. The world felt paused, as if it were holding its breath. But it wasn’t tense. It wasn’t anxious. It was simply waiting.
And then, slowly, almost imperceptibly, the light began to press back the dark.
There was no announcement. No sudden explosion of color. No sense of urgency. The sun did not strain its way over the horizon. It rose because that is what it does. Morning comes, not because the earth panics, but because the sun reigns over the day.
Standing there, I realized how different that felt from the way many of us have learned to wait for Christ.
When Waiting Starts to Feel Like Pressure
If you’ve been a believer for any length of time, you’ve likely felt it too.
The subtle expectation that watchfulness must feel intense. The assumption that if we are truly alert, we will also be slightly on edge. The idea that readiness means scanning, interpreting, bracing.
We may not say it that way out loud, but the posture creeps in. Headlines start to feel like signals. Global instability begins to feel like countdown. And before long, waiting turns into a low-grade tension that never quite settles.
But Scripture does not describe waiting that way.
It describes endurance.
There is a difference.
Endurance is patient strength stretched over time. It is trust that remains steady even when resolution is not immediate. Panic, on the other hand, feeds on uncertainty and assumes the story may slip out of control if we are not vigilant enough.
The biblical story leaves no room for that kind of fear.
The Story Has Always Included Waiting
From the beginning, humanity was created for fellowship with God. We were meant to live in open communion, trusting His word and resting in His presence. When the Fall fractured that fellowship, separation and suffering entered the world, and creation itself began to groan under the weight of that rupture (Romans 8:22).
But even east of Eden, God did not abandon His purposes.
He clothed Adam and Eve before sending them out. He called Abraham and made promises that stretched beyond a single lifetime. He formed Israel through wilderness years that felt long and unresolved. He spoke through prophets in seasons when silence would have been easier.
Waiting was never a sign that God had stepped back. It was often the very environment in which He formed His people.
When Christ came, He did not rush the story to its conclusion. He entered human history at the appointed time, lived faithfully, bore the weight of sin at the cross, rose in victory, and ascended to reign. Even now, we live in the space between resurrection and restoration, a space that requires endurance more than urgency.
Christ Reigns Now
Everything steadies here.
Jesus did not promise that authority would eventually be His. He declared:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
(Matthew 28:18)
That is present reality.
We are not waiting for a fragile kingdom to stabilize. We are not watching history unfold in uncertainty, hoping Christ will intervene at the right moment. He reigns now, and His authority is neither partial nor threatened.
When we forget this, waiting begins to feel unstable. It feels as if we must compensate for what might unravel. But when we remember that the risen Christ holds all authority, our posture changes. We are not bracing for chaos. We are living under a King who has already secured victory through the cross and resurrection.
We are not waiting for Christ to win.
We are waiting for Him to complete what He has begun.
That distinction matters.
Hope Stretches Across Time
Paul writes:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
(Romans 8:18)
He does not minimize suffering. He names it honestly. We live in a fractured world where hardship is real, where delay can feel heavy, and where questions sometimes linger longer than we prefer. Yet Paul places present suffering inside a larger frame. Glory is coming. Restoration is certain. The future is not fragile.
That kind of hope does not produce urgency. It produces patience.
Urgency often assumes that delay equals danger. Hope understands that delay may be mercy. Peter reminds us:
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you.”
(2 Peter 3:9)
What we experience as slowness may actually be God’s kindness extended across generations. His patience means more people are invited into restored fellowship. His timing reflects wisdom, not hesitation.
God has never been late.
Faithfulness Is the Shape of Waiting
The question that forms a believer is not, “How close are we?” It is, “How do I live faithfully today?”
That question shifts the focus from speculation to obedience. It anchors us in our identity as citizens of a Kingdom already ruled by Christ. Identity precedes obedience. We belong before we act. Holiness flows from restored fellowship, not fear of missing a moment.
When you live from that security, waiting no longer feels like holding your breath. It feels like steady participation in what God is already doing. You love your neighbor because Christ reigns. You pursue integrity because you belong to His Kingdom. You endure hardship because the future is secure.
You remain watchful, but not anxious.
Alert, but not breathless.
Hopeful, but not hurried.
The Sunrise Will Come
As I stood there that morning, the light continued its quiet advance. What had been shadowed slowly became visible. The world did not force the dawn. It received it.
That is the posture Scripture forms in us.
Jesus will return bodily, personally, and victoriously. The story is moving toward restoration, and nothing will prevent its completion. But He does not call us to rush the horizon. He calls us to remain faithful within the day we have been given.
You can wait without urgency because Christ reigns without anxiety. You can endure without panic because the future rests in His hands. The same God who pursued humanity in Eden, who restored fellowship through the cross, and who raised Jesus from the dead is not uncertain about how this story ends.
Stay steady. The King who began this work will finish it in His perfect wisdom and time.
Christ reigns. Christ restores. Christ will return.
Spread the Gospel; lives depend on it!
I pray, MARANATHA! (Come Quickly, Lord Jesus!)
Your brother in Christ,
Duane