Isn’t it funny how inactivity can be the very thing that wakes us up the most? While listening to the radio a bit, I just heard a song about waiting on and serving the Lord. I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate to describe my life, currently. As a doer, however, I’m finding the idea of waiting the most difficult of all. Right now, my days are filled with very little activity, but it’s a good thing. This gives me a lot of time to listen to and simply sit in awe of the Creator of the universe. Who wouldn’t want to do that? Even so, I find myself just biding my time between the activities that I do have planned and wasting the rest of it. As a true American, I want some noise, some bustle with a touch of hustle, but that’s not where I am right now.Contentment is something we all have to work at. It’s not as easy as it sounds, honestly, and it doesn’t just happen by default. When in class, everyone wants midterms or finals or “just this week” to be over. When that happens, it’s not long until we’re all screaming about boredom. I am just as guilty of it. “If just this project were finished, THEN I would spend time with the Lord and relax,” I say. But chaos ends, classes calm down, and I’m still just busying myself any way I know how. I find I’m so fickle.
That’s one of the many, many, many remarkable things about God, though. He is consistent and faithful. Over and over again, the Bible shows times of serious waiting. While reading, I may breeze right by a sentence that says someone prepared, prayed, and waited for several years, but even a few days of anticipation is too much for me to take. Even Christ Jesus spent 30 years preparing for His ministry of 3 years. But I want results! I want a microwave flame of purification. I pray for Jesus to make me more Christlike, and I expect an easy, quick fix to all my flesh problems.
However, microwave purification doesn’t exist. I could try to make myself better, like all the other religions, but it won’t work. It is only by the grace of Jesus that I can even approach the Father’s throne. I’m declared clean and not condemned, but I still have growing to do while I’m on the earth. I will wait on the Lord, because He’s the only thing that’s worth waiting for. He’s the only one in whom we can definitely put all our trust. Everything else is a gamble.
“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I will wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7)
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word, I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning . . .” (Psalm 130:5-6)
I can trust my God to follow through more than I can trust the sun to come up tomorrow. As much as I try, I cannot forge ahead of the Lord. So, as God gently puts my face between His hands and directs my gaze to Him by removing everything else, I will finally close my mouth, listen, and actively wait. I’ll use this time to prepare my soul for whatever He has in store.
“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (Isaiah 26: 8)
