Waiting

Waiting

I begin this letter as I do most monthly letters at 2 am in the morning having gone to bed as I do nightly asking God to speak to my heart and reveal what I need to become more focused on Him and less on me.  John the Baptist phrased it, “He must increase, I must decrease” and Dr Dallas Willard encouraged us to pray “Help me to want to want what I don’t want now” as it relates to that small gnawing hunger in us for Christ-likeness, that is in reality a looming and most often hidden chasm.

So I wait.

As I lay here tonight my mind is drawn into that very word – wait.  Where for example do I see it in my day, in the lives of others, and in the Bible.   In all marriages there is one who waits for the other?   Often it is as one of us thinks being on time for this event is important and the other does not feel that compulsion.  (Note: neither is necessarily right or wrong, life it turns out is not black and white, it’s colorful with unimaginable hues.)  We also wait in traffic, for childbirth, at the airport, for a movie or play to begin, for recognition, to grow up, for health to return when sick, and the list goes on and on – ultimately we wait for Christ to return.  Now and then — okay often — others wait for us.

Is our waiting in vain?  Do we learn while waiting, or reflect back on a situation that involved waiting, and get frustrated, angry.  Do we seek to understand God’s perspective on such things?  Romans 8:22 tells us that the whole creation groans in the pain, waiting for the coming of Christ to bring His sons and daughters to heaven. And in the meantime, are we teachable, as His Word has called us to be – using our waiting to allow God to change our character, so that year by year we grow closer to Him and in our actions become more Christ like?

What would you see in me if my patience, understanding, and empathy was revealed when I’m stuck in traffic, or waiting in line in a store?  How might I use those times to draw closer to Christ; perhaps by refreshing myself by recalling scripture that I’ve memorized or wish to learn from.  Could God use it for His purpose if I’d engage someone in that line and show care for them?  Perhaps I could use it as a time of prayer to engage Him.   Is our “waiting” to lay in ambush of others, or is waiting an opportunity to draw close to the One who created us?

It’s in impatience and selfishness that greed, violence, fornication, adultery, and the other fleshly pursuits from Gal 5 become the outflow of waiting, but it is in seeking to give glory in our whole life to Jesus, who gave all for us, that He reveals a greater good that comes from everyday “waiting”.

Getting up out of bed and going to my study Bible after considering my own thoughts on waiting, I begin to read, and God speaks in quiet whispers.   Often the Word uses the word wait/waiting in the context of entrapment or attacking others.   Joyfully it also tells us that what we suffer now (as we wait) is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.  Titus 2:11-14 expresses it well:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self- controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.We will continue as long as we have breath to “wait” on others, and can view those times with the world view, or as Christ might give us a vision to see differently.  And in these things and times, we wait for God. Or is it really?  Perhaps it’s that God is waiting for us to join Him and continue ourjourney toward holiness?