Waiting on and for God

Waiting.
Waiting is a decided feature of everyday life, however, much we try to avoid it. We wait to get results from medical tests, from academic examinations, from appeals against various rulings. We wait for courts to decide on certain matters, for the cabinet of government ministers to make decisions affecting our lives. We wait in queues, in peak traffic, in doctors' surgeries, in hospital corridors and schools. We wait for the evening meal to cook and be served. Waiting.

Waiting is also very important in our walk with God. It can often be construed as passive but it is also active according to scripture. The idea of waiting on God is an active process where we are desiring to know what God wants of us next. In Psalm 130 the writer talks of waiting for God more than watchmen who wait for the morning (repeated).

I imagine these watchmen staying up all night for their shift and eagerly scanning the heavens for the first signs of light so that they can finish for the night! The psalmist says that he is doing this and more. His eagerness to see the signs of God's gracious presence is greater than these watchmen looking for the beginnings of dawn. In Psalm 123, servants and maids look to the 'hands' of their masters and mistresses to see what is to be done for them. Waiting in these contexts is active.

But, waiting is often just sitting quietly, patiently with God, sometimes feeling nothing, receiving nothing, hearing nothing. I heard a story recently from the experience of a Dr Beuttler, who told of a pastor who heard the Lord tell him to go to his church down the street, in the dead of a snowy night. In obedience he went there and sat on the platform and waited for God. Nothing happened. No religious feelings, no voices, no revelations but he just stayed there until he felt released later that morning to go home.

At the next Sunday service, during the general hubbub that can occur before the start of Christian worship services, suddenly a hush came over the congregation as if the noise switch had been turned off. The pastor preparing some items on the platform looked up and saw a figure walk in through the church doors dressed in white. He walked down the left side aisle, touched a person that had a gift of speaking of tongues but hadn't been used in that gift for a long time who immediately began to speak in tongues. The figure continued on down the aisle, came to the front of the church, paused, looked up at the pastor as if in recognition, continued on and walked up the other side aisle and touched another person who was an interpreter of tongues but hadn't been used for some time in that gift. By that stage, the first speaker had stopped and the second began to interpret. The figure continued up the aisle reaching the front doors of the building and left. At the conclusion of messages, the 'power of God hit the place', and service went on for 3 hours! Oh, that we would listen when the Lord asks us to wait because he who calls has already planted the desire to wait in our hearts in the first place.