What one thing do you think almost all the men and women mentioned in the Bible as faithful followers of God had in common? The answer – apart from the obvious one of their righteousness – was that they all are said to have had to wait. We may not always think about this aspect of the lives of the spiritual “Hall of Fame” greats, but it is the one consistent trait of their stories.
Abraham and his wife Sarah waited for a son – God let them wait for twenty-five years until their waiting was eventually rewarded (Genesis 21:5). The same is true, of course, of Abraham’s waiting to inherit the land God promised him. Although he only received a small portion of it in his lifetime (Genesis 23:17-20), he was willing to wait faithfully for the fulfillment of the promise.
The patriarchs descended from Abraham waited in the same way. Isaac waited twenty years for a son (Genesis 25:20), Jacob waited fourteen years for a wife (Genesis 29:18-30), and Joseph waited thirteen years – some of them in prison – before God brought him to the position of greatness he had promised him.
Moses waited forty long years in the wilderness before seeing the land God had promised. Joshua and Caleb waited in the wilderness, too, and then during the years of struggle before the promised land was finally taken.
David was anointed king years before he became king, but waited patiently till God brought his destiny about. In fact, David speaks often in his psalms about waiting – for example “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits … my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:5-6 ESV).
We see many of the prophets of Israel and Judah having to wait – sometimes even to hear God’s message (Jeremiah 42:7, etc.). The prophet Habakkuk was told regarding God’s vision for him “If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed” (Habakkuk 2:3 NLT).
And we find many others who had to wait. The patriarch Job waited under great suffering till God healed and restored him (Job 7:3), and Noah, Daniel and other heroes of the Old Testament are all said to have waited.
In the New Testament, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, had to wait till she was old to have a child. Simeon and Anna are said to have waited years to see the Messiah. Jesus himself had to wait some thirty years to begin his mission of salvation – and had actually waited for untold time since its planning (Revelation 13:8). The disciples were told to wait in Jerusalem before they could begin their Spirit-empowered ministry (Acts 1:4); Paul had to wait many times in his ministry (Acts 28:30; etc.); and you and I are told to “Wait patiently for the LORD … Yes, wait patiently for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14 NLT).
In our own lives we may have to wait for things we need and for things we long for – perhaps we are waiting for work, or for a husband or wife, or for needed healing, or something else. It can be hard to continue to wait, especially when what we hope for seems nowhere in sight, but we should remember that we are not alone in our waiting. God lets us all wait for something and rewards us when we seek him first and continue to trust him. As Jeremiah proclaimed: “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25 ESV).
We may have to wait, but we should never give up the trusting expectancy God desires us to have. Just because a needed answer has not come yet, we should also not give up on praying for it. Jesus gave several parables to teach this, telling his disciples “that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1-8 NIV).
Above all, we need never doubt that while we wait, God works with us in mind – and he works to make things worth our waiting. As the prophet Isaiah learned and confirmed for us, God is a God “who acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4 ESV).
In Romans 16:1-16 the apostle Paul sends greetings to a number of his friends, co-workers, and acquaintances in Rome, a city which he had not yet visited. The list is extensive – almost thirty individuals are mentioned as well as several groups of people – and nowhere else in Paul’s letters do we find such a long catalog of names. As we read Romans today it is very easy to skim-read this list, noting the few names we may recognize and then moving on to the epistle’s conclusion. But there is more to the list than immediately meets the eye, and like everything in Paul’s writings, we can learn from it.
First, of course, we see in this long list of individuals the degree to which Paul was truly a “people person” – knowing, remembering and greeting a large number of people in a city he did not even know. Because of his constant travel and evangelization Paul must have met a great number of people, and it is impressive that he remembered not only the names of the people on his list, but also their qualities.
Looking at what Paul says about these people is also instructive. Phoebe, who is mentioned first in Romans 16:1-2, was probably the person who delivered Paul’s letter to Rome and the apostle’s greetings only begin after she is mentioned. Paul then specifically greets some twenty-eight individuals. Rather than just being an extensive list of greetings with an occasional comment thrown in here and there, however, if we look closely, we see a clear pattern. Paul refers to the people he lists in seven different ways:
1. Those Paul calls “beloved.” Paul was well aware that God referred to his own son as “beloved” (Colossians 1:13) and doubtless did not use the expression lightly. He mentions only three people this way.
2. Those Paul says “worked hard” or “worked very hard” doing God’s work – only three individuals.
3. Individuals mentioned as simply being “fellow workers” – three people.
4. People who are named as being fellow Christians – “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” or a similar expression – five individuals.
5. Those who had personally helped Paul in some way – “been a mother to me,” “risked their lives for me” – three individuals.
6. Individuals who Paul simply notes as being fellow Jews – two individuals who are also mentioned as being in Christ and one individual who is only noted as a fellow Jew.
7. Those who are simply named, or mentioned as being in someone’s family – more than ten individuals. Although they were doubtless Christians, they are included in the list without any qualifying remarks to show that they had any outstanding characteristics.
What is interesting about Paul’s listing of these individuals is the fact that the majority of the people he greets are simply Christians – individuals Paul doubtless loved and cared for, but did not remember as being outstanding in their service of God or others. Those in group 4, who are specifically mentioned as being “in Christ,” seem to have perhaps been more devout – but overall, well over half of the people Paul greets are not given any special commendation.
When we then subtract the individuals who are mentioned as having helped Paul personally and those whom he calls “beloved” (but who we are not told why they are so regarded), the remaining people in Paul’s list are the ones he shows were most actively involved in doing the work of God. These remaining six individuals are said to be “fellow workers,” “those who work hard,” and “those who work very hard.”
We cannot know whether Paul was subconsciously or consciously “grading” these people as he greeted them, but it is clear that they were a minority among the larger group of Christians Paul greeted in his epistle, and that there was a difference in Paul’s mind between the individuals he mentions. It is also hard to imagine Paul – who wrote so carefully and deeply – as not including the public grading of individuals without having a purpose in doing so. Perhaps that purpose was for the good of those whom he greeted, but perhaps it was for our good, also. We can all ask ourselves which group Paul would have included us in.
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