Waiting May Not Be Fun...But It's Necessary

Acts Ch. 1:4-11 (The Message Bible)
After his death, He (Jesus) presented Himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but "must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon." When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?" He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world." These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, "You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left."

A few weeks ago on a Saturday evening when I really didn’t have anything to do, I called up my friend and asked her if she wanted to hit up the movies. She said, “Yeah”, but she had to get her hair done first at 4:30 and said we could catch the 7 o’clock. When 5:30 came around she sent me a text message to let me know that she wasn’t in the chair yet, but she’d still be there by 7. At 6:45 when I was in the car on the way to the theatre she texted me to let me know that she was under the dryer and that all they had to do was take the rollers out, she’d be there at 7:30 and to save her a seat. At this point I started getting frustrated. I did not want to sit in there waiting for her by myself. I drove past that movie theater and headed to Lowes to see if there was a later show there. When I called her back I told her that I decided to go to another theatre and she said she was on her way. When I got to the theatre, she wasn’t there so I waited for 5 minutes…15 minutes…20 minutes…30 minutes! I was standing in the lobby mad all by myself. When she finally walked through those glass doors, her first words to me were “Whew. Sorry Girl.” Sorry Girl?! Unfortunately, it was at that moment that I realized something about myself…I’m impatient. Waiting is never fun.

The scripture above takes place after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He came back to spend some time talking and training the disciples for 40 days. Jesus tells them to wait for everything God promised. They kept asking Jesus, “But when?” Jesus would again say “wait” or “it is not yet time.” And then Jesus is suddenly taken up into the sky and disappears before their very eyes. Can you imagine what they were feeling? Perhaps worry…anxiety…and of course a bit of impatience. They wanted their questions answered and they wanted them answered right then. Like, “When is the Holy Spirit coming,” “When is the kingdom going to be restored,” and by the way “When exactly are you coming back?” The disciples had no other choice but to wait. And here we are thousands of years later…still waiting.

We don’t have to wait on much in the society we live in now. Everything is microwavable. We have Tivo so we don’t have to wait for TV shows. We have Netflix so we can order movies online. We even have dating services online so we don’t have to wait much to date either. So when it comes to waiting on the Lord….of course it’s hard! The worst part about waiting is that many times we don’t even know what we’re waiting for…we’re just waiting. Perhaps to many of us we think it’d be much easier if we knew what we were waiting for. If we knew how the relationship was going to turn out. If we knew what college we were getting into. If we knew about that job we’ve been waiting for. Or what those test results are going to be. And unfortunately I can’t give you any answers because I still don’t know why I’m waiting on some of the things I’m waiting for. But what I do know is what Jesus said to His disciples: it’s not for you to know, BUT you will receive power. This is good news. God has given us power through the Holy Spirit to be able to move forward in the midst of the waiting. God has given us the power to remain strong and sturdy even when things seem at a stand still.

God hasn’t left you hanging! God’s always working on your situation even when you can’t see what’s ahead. Sometimes when I’m anxious or unsure about the things I’m waiting for, I remind myself that God loves me and that I’m God’s child and God always has my best interests at heart. So whatever you’re waiting for, just remember that God has seen the end and the beginning and everything is working together for your good!