WEEKLY FOCUS ARCHIVE

Waiting on God

July 21, 2005

As a culture, we are not good at waiting. Take for example the typical grocery store experience. You have spent 45 minutes running through the isles, disciplining your children, and then going back to get the few things you forgot, and now its time to make it to the checkout line. What is your strategy for this crucial moment? If you are like me you find the isle that provides you with clear sailing from the back of the store to the front, and then, once you have made it to the front, you begin to scan the horizon for the “fastest” checkout line. The problem is, just as soon as you start your sprint to that line someone else beats you there. Then you turn around and run full throttle to the line you previously thought about taking in the first place. When that one is seized by another competitor you send your kids out, one to each line, and decide that the first one to the counter is to send out a smoke signal so you can get on the hoof and get over there! The entire time you are beating yourself for not having made better strategic decisions. We live in a hurry, do we not? We do not like to wait.

And what about the child prodigy thing? Why is it that some little eight year-old genius violinist got the goods so early and I did not? Why did Donald Young, who at 15 recently became the youngest world number one junior tennis player ever, get the goods and not I? And why did Lebron James get the $100 million contract as a teenager and not me?

Have you ever asked, “When is it my turn?” or “Why do I have to wait?” At some time most of us ask those or similar questions. Learning to wait before God for “our turn” or for release from difficulty, or healing or some other need is not easy, but it is of the utmost importance.

So how do we, as believers, American believers, find the resolve and faith to “wait on God”? What kind of perspective must we have in order to wait on Him? The right answer to these questions can transform our entire view of this life. So, here goes, a few things to keep in mind. Why Wait?

1. It is worth the wait
Anytime God does not give us what we want when we want it, we must remember it is for our good. We cannot fathom what God has in store for us in the unfolding of His plans. If we can keep ourselves from attempting to direct His hand so often we will find ourselves much more at peace. Any perceived delay is in reality God’s perfect timing. How much greater is the joy for those who have worked, prayed, pushed, and hoped over the long haul? In God’s plan, a pleasure postponed is a true joy increased. How thrilled were the Red Sox to finally win the World Series again after “all those years”? How thrilled will we be when the Saints finally win the Super Bowl? O.k., maybe some things are meant to never happen, but you get the point. The scriptures tell us, “No eye has seen, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those that love Him”. It’s worth the wait.

2. There is strength in the wait
Typically, men and women of great inner strength developed that gusto through a great deal of time and hardship. There are no shortcuts to greatness. Great strength is the exception because so few are willing to “wait” for their time. It is too tempting to settle for mediocrity which comes so much quicker and so much easier. How does a world class athlete get to that place where the body performs so perfectly that it looks effortless? Years of conditioning, training, and pain. When a man or woman of God endures what seems like endless suffering, and in the face of that suffering exhibit marvelous grace, it is a thing of beauty. That kind of strength comes from a heart dedicated to waiting on God. The strength to wait on Him settles in when we let go of our craving for ease and comfort. Who has not been astounded by stories like those of Joni Ericson Tada and Corrie Ten Boon? These women demonstrated Godly strength in the face of terrifying difficulty. As we surrender ourselves, our hopes, ambitions, understanding of life, and all that we are to God, we find hope even in places of hardship and we find a supernatural strength welling up within us.

3. There is character in the wait
Have you seen the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus”? Mr. Holland became a high school music teacher by default, but ultimately came to find his life’s purpose in instilling vision, passion, and a love of learning in the kids he taught. At the end of the movie Mr. Holland is let go from his job of many years and he is heart- broken. He is tempted to question if his career meant anything at all. This man, who early in life aspired to be a great composer, is now at the end of his journey as a teacher and is feeling totally dispensable. As he is gathering his things from his office and leaving the school campus for the last time he hears noise coming from the auditorium. With his wife tagging along he ventures into the auditorium to see what is going on. What he walks into is a testament to the power of character, his character. The auditorium is full of students, current and those from years gone by. They are all there to celebrate a life lived with character. Though Mr. Holland never made it as a composer, he made a difference in the lives of countless youth. His true Opus, they tell him, are the lives he transformed. I have watched it 20 times and never once with a dry face. Believers, as we go through this life, we must remember that our character is what is most important. “What does it profit a man if he gains the world and yet loses his soul?” If we abandon character for selfish ambition we miss the boat. Any legacy we leave will stand or fall based upon our character.

4. There is grace in the wait
John Milton, one of the great 17th Century writers and the author of the greatest epic poem ever penned, Paradise Lost, struggled with waiting on God. This brilliant thinker, writer, and mind, who relied on his abilities to read and think and write, went blind. Not only that, but he was totally blind before putting Paradise Lost to the page! Just like you and I, Milton doubted God’s ability to use him with his disability attached. We and Milton ask, “How can God possibly accomplish what we know He needs to accomplish through me if this thorn remains?” The apostle Paul struggled with that also, by the way. God’s answer to Milton came in the form of another very powerful poem. Milton, who gradually “watched” his sight diminish and eventually totally leave him, wrestled intensely with God’s purpose in this illness. At the end of the day God gives him a remarkable glimpse of His grace. God birthed in Milton an amazing poem that crystallizes the heavenly perspective here. The entire poem should be read, but the divine answer is revealed in the astounding line which reads, “They also serve who only stand and wait”. Milton comes to understand that we do not have to have it all “put together” to be used by God. He comes to see that we have value before the Creator for just showing up! God’s ability to love us and to use us is not hindered by our disability! As we hunger and thirst to know what amazing accomplishments lie ahead for us, at the end of the day, what really matters is just that—waiting on God. This waiting, Godly waiting, amounts to no more than a joyful, restful, strong, grace filled acceptance that God’s agenda for us is enough. It is up to Him to show the extravagance of His grace in our lives. As we cooperate with that purpose, Waiting on Him is life and that abundantly.

He is the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great price, the beginning and the end, our all in all - and he is worth waiting on!

Bruce Smith (Rev.)
Director of Development, Teaching Pastor
bruce@uptownchurch.net

JOIN OUR EMAIL COMMUNITY AND RECEIVE OUR WEEKLY FOCUS EMAIL EACH WEEK!