Children wait with great impatient thrill for Christmas Day. Four days ahead, they are feverishly counting down, and fidgeting – just 3 more sleeps, says Mom. Four days ahead of the wedding, the bride- and groom-to-be await that momentous, life-changing ceremony with about-to-explode, nervous tension, checking and double-checking every last-minute detail, hoping their day will proceed flawlessly, with full, warm sunshine. It’s a different wait for expectant mothers. Four days ahead of the baby’s arrival, they don’t know the day or time, so their wait is, as yet, of undetermined length – agonizing and frightening and exciting, all at the same time.
Similar to the third kind of wait, is that of the disciples four days ahead of the arrival of the Gift Jesus promised they would receive. They are in a murky zone, afraid of the present and the future, unsure of what it is they are to wait for, unsure if they’ll know when ‘it’ arrives, unsure of their ability to understand what to do with ‘it’ when ‘it’ arrives. They’re still recovering from the trauma of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and their having abandoned him in his most vulnerable hour. They’re also attempting to grapple with all that he taught them in the forty days before he ascended into heaven. It’s now been six days since he left them. The angel told them Jesus would come back. But when? No one knew the answer. And so, they wait.
Of all the great and privileged positions, we, today, are four days ahead of the celebration of the stunning arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We know about the Gift. We know Who he is and all that he brought with him. We know about the Kingdom he represents. We know about our anointing and our commissioning as Ambassadors of that heavenly Kingdom. We’ve lived his interventions in our lives – they’re undeniable – and multiple, to say the least! We know his healings and deliverances. We know his leading to the fellowship of the Body of Christ. We know his empowering workings through these often weak and frail bodies of ours. We know all about our often-recalcitrant temperaments. We know all about his forgivenesses. We know his workings through the 2,000 years of church history. We have the testimony of those disciples and the workings of the Spirit to birth the Church. We even know the end of the story! Yes, of all people, we are blessed beyond describing. We might echo the words of the psalmist in Psalm 63, TPT: “O God of my life, I’m lovesick for you in this weary wilderness. I thirst with the deepest longings to love you more, with cravings in my heart that can’t be described. Such yearning grips my soul for you, my God!”
In anticipation of this Sunday’s celebration, let’s prepare to share a verse or two of a Psalm that expresses our hearts, or to share something we’ve been inspired to write which expresses the same. Just 4 more days, y’all! I can hardly wait! PD
