In The Waiting Room

Depending on where you are in life, waiting is either an inconvenience or an annoyance.  To me, it’s mostly a waste of time.  I was reading somewhere about how many hours and days and months we wait in lines or are on hold on phone calls.  A few weeks ago, we went to a theme park and I think our kids were permanently cured of wanting to go back- the lines were terrible.  90 minutes for a 60 second ride.  If you put that in dollars it would be like paying $90,000 for something worth $1,000.  What a waste!

Yet, all of us know that there are some things that are really worth waiting for.  Our three children are perfect examples.  In addition to the time leading up to their conception, they had another nine months in the womb and then labor.  We waited and it was well worth it!  Some of you ladies out there may question the waiting involved in the labor pains, but I hear that moms usually forget the pain enough to have more children.  So, if this is true, the waiting and the pain were both worth it.

One of the things that I have been thinking a lot about lately is how God tells us to wait.  Through the prophet Isaiah, He says that when we “wait upon the Lord, we renew our strength.”  I think many of us don’t know how to do this.  There’s no ticket line or hold button with God.  It’s not like someone is on a recording saying “your wait time will be between five and ten minutes.”  I’d like that if there were!  Instead, we are encourage to wait and be renewed with His strength.  It’s in the waiting that there is renewal- not in the fulfillment of the waiting.

Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come to them.  This was as He was making his great departure after the resurrection.  He gave them instructions to go into an upper room- a waiting room- and wait.  What must that have been like?  I’m sure they thought, “for how long?”  and “how will we know when it’s time?”   Whatever they thought, they obeyed- they waited and the Holy Spirit showed up in a way that was undeniable.  Each of them recieved a touch of God that they had never expereinced before for this was a personal meeting and filling of God’s spirit into them.  The waiting paid off because God never disappoints.

I wonder if we are more willing to wait for a table at a restaruant than we are willing to wait for God’s Spirit to show up?  Could it be that we get less antsy in a waiting room where our car is being fixed (which is exactly where I am as I write these words on my laptop) than when being still and silent before God?  I need to get better at waiting upon the Lord and waiting in His waiting room.

In this season of difficulty and uncertainty in our nation, followers of Christ can truly become a light to the world by learning the secret of waiting with faith and hope and patience.  This kind of waiting brings no sorrow to it and never disappoints us.  Come Holy Spirit!

-peter