A God Worth Waiting For
If you are like me, you have a hard time waiting. Patience we know is indeed a virtue, yet it is one that, especially in our culture of instant gratification we struggle with. If we look at God’s Holy Word, we see that the span of Time, years into centuries into millennium moves forward often, in scripture with several hundred years of seemingly no activity on the part of God. Of course, we know that God is always at work. His meticulous providence and sovereignty move like a grand weaver through history and our lives.
Science claims that our subjective present moment is estimated to be about 2-3 seconds long, corresponding to our perception of now. Our human consciousness and transcendental nature are a mystery science will likely never explain. The nuances of each person's experience of Being in this world are different and that of course includes our experience of waiting.
We are finite, we had a beginning, and with our finitude comes limited senses, limited intellect, and of course our physical bodies weigh in on our waiting as well.
Prior to God bringing his people out of Egypt, Israel waited in slavery for 400 years. Imagine 10 generations, twice if our nation has been in existence. Then God had Israel wait again for 400 more years between the last prophet of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. God was seemingly silent. Isaiah described that time as “sitting in darkness.”
So here is the hard pill to swallow, waiting is a normal part of our Christian life. When we are suffering or someone we love is suffering we don’t want to hear that. After all, God can do anything at any time, right? As true as that is, we distort of understanding of who and what God is when we frame our reality, and our needs that way. God is not our genie, remember his ways are not our ways.
“it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord”. Lamentations 3:26
Waiting like most things in life yields lessons if we are so inclined to look for them.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking “…1 Peter 5:6-10.
Our experience of waiting on the Lord starts with our humility. Be humble, don’t try to second guess God. Next, we need to cast our cares on him. How, through prayer, through quiet time of talking to God. In this process, he will exalt us eventually just as he will restore and establish us. But we must be patient, we must wait.
Right now our world is in turmoil, at least from a human perspective. Yet God is at work. People are suffering, some greatly. Waiting does not mean doing nothing. If you can help someone do it, don’t be idle.
Jesus was resurrected and overcame death and the power it had over us. There is much to be done in your life right now in the land of the living. God asks that you trust him, and be patient, if you are anxious pray, pray some more as you wait, he will exalt you in due time.