Imagine a married couple who, after trying for many years, are thrilled to learn there is a baby on the way! There is great rejoicing of parents and grandparents. Preparations for the long-awaited addition to the family can now begin in earnest. The bedroom-become-nursery is painted and furnished. Doctor’s visits are attended with a bit of nervous anxiety. The growing evidence is checked again and again. Special exercises are encouraged. With each passing week the anticipation is stronger, the waiting more challenging. Names are mulled over. Baby items threaten to overwhelm the house, spilling out of the nursery into other rooms. Gifting parties are held, adding yet more volume. The baby evidence is more and more noticeable. The waiting now is so tougher than ever. As the due date approaches, the discomfort is accompanied by ever more agonizing waiting. As the due date comes and goes, the questions of when can only be answered with a tentatively hopeful, “Any day now.” So ready. So eager. And the wait continues.
This is the example Paul provides regarding our hope-filled Christian walk. There is joyful waiting, then anxious waiting, then desperate waiting, but always hope-filled waiting, knowing the outcome, if not the timetable. It is, undeniably, a component of our Salvation, this waiting, this ‘Occupying until Jesus comes.’ One of the last statements of Jesus before being taken up to the Father says it bluntly, ‘You are not permitted to know the timing of all that the Father has prepared by His own authority.’ In more curt, contemporary language Jesus was saying, ‘It’s none of your business!’ So, where does that leave us? That is correct – waiting.
Have you ever noticed how people wait? Some sit stoically in uncomfortable chairs, unmoving. Others, read every old magazine in the waiting room, then re-read them. Still others can’t sit still so they pace. They ask the nurse how much longer, has she heard anything? Some have to distract themselves by starting up a conversation with any stranger near them. What that conversation is about is of no consequence, so long as it fills the silence (or perhaps covers up the soundtrack scratching through the ceiling speakers).
Christians, too, wait differently. Some content themselves with what they knew at the beginning and choose not to budge from there. Others, fill the time with knowledge of theology, and specifically, eschatology, ensconcing themselves on their arrived-at conclusions. Others still grow despondent and begin to absorb strange teachings from questionable sources promising ‘answers.’ Others dig deep, leaning in to Jesus, allowing him to satisfy their longing to understand the Plan. Regardless of our approach, there is no escaping God’s Waiting Room. And that’s a good thing because He meets us there. See all you lovely, patiently waiting believers tomorrow 10 AM, 3 PM UK, 4 PM FR. PD
