Waiting for God

What does it take to wait?  If you think about waiting passively, desparately waiting to for something to happen, it can be upsetting and unnerving.  You can tend to feel helpless in that type of situation.  How did Mary feel when the angel came to her and told her about the huge change that was about to take place in her life?

God shows us how to wait.  First, He’s shown us in the Bible that we’re part of a huge plan for the world, and for all mankind.  We were born into this world for a purpose, and our DNA is such that we were made for specific acts upon the earth.  It was no accident we arrived here at this specific time in history.  Second, our lives take twists and turns that we do not expect, which cause us to wait for the next step.  This is the type of thing we rarely do well with, unless we see the hand of God.

During these ‘desert’ seasons of our lives we ask God for specifics – a job; a spouse; a new toy.  When we dwell on those specifics, we tend to lose our patience and our faith in the future – sometimes even in ourselves.

In ‘Waiting for God,” Henri Nouwen speaks about ‘open-ended’ waiting.  It’s the kind of waiting we can do as a worship leader in a worship service – when we feel the presence of God in the middle of a song.  It’s the kind of waiting many of us are used to doing in the middle of a prayer or sermon.  Let’s not let this happen only on Sunday morning -- we can do this in every moment of our life as well.  

Open-ended waiting can happen only when we trust.  Think of yourself as always ‘in the middle’ of a bigger plan, or a bigger situation than you can see.  Trust the One who made you to reveal to you what to do, when you need to know it – on the next chorus of the song – during the next hour of your life – this next month – this upcoming new year.  Trust the One who promises to reveal many plans, hopes and dreams to you, in His own time.