Launched and Waiting

                                                      Photo courtesy of James N. Brown

That new day of living in the power of the LORD can be a lot like a rocket launch. Or, maybe it was a revelation and a start of a project that launched you.  Maybe it was the first encounter with the power of His Spirit and you started doing things only God could do through you.  Maybe it was a “Call.”

It’s a place of exhilaration. The launch pad, the vast acceleration, the g-force that is impossible to move out from under the weight of His presence… and you don’t want to.  Then suddenly, you reach out away from the gravitational pull.  The speed isn’t noticed or are you still moving? Are you still in motion or floating?  It’s quieter. It seems still.  There’s peace, but it’s different.

It’s the quiet, the waiting, the not quite there yet, but you definitely aren’t where you were.

I’ve found myself there.  It isn’t a lack of doing. No, it is taking the better part of my faith and strength and effort to wait. 

Trusting that I am on my way to where this launch is taking me. 

Trusting that the Power that launched me has a flight plan.

If I start pressing the buttons to make something happen out of order, it may mess things up a bit.

Sara decided to do a little button pushing of her own.  She was promised that Abraham would be the Father of many nations and instead of waiting, she tried to make it happen. She didn’t believe the Promise that she would conceive, but believed there would be many nations. She set up Hagar for Abraham and Ishmael was made.  Not long after, her own Isaac came along.  The Promise did come.  What if she had waited?  What if we stopped doubting what God said about us and really waited?

 Waiting is sometimes the most grueling of all exercises.

Actively waiting.  I’m watching our daughter nearing her sixth month of pregnancy.  She’s used to making things happen and she makes things happen fast.  Here she is. Waiting.  She has no control over the wait time. It’s hard.  A friend of hers told her that it seems like it is going to take forever, then suddenly, you’re six months along and you realize there isn’t much time left and you start to panic wishing there was more time.  There is expectancy with waiting. 

As her child rapidly developed and cells multiplied, body parts formed, systems began; the child became fully formed in a short amount of time.  But now, the child waits growing stronger, bigger and strengthening lungs, kidneys, muscles and more so that it is strong enough to live life outside of his mother.

I’m finding this in the waiting for Promises to be fulfilled, the new life and His will.

In the quiet, the waiting is a place of growing, strengthening, learning and maturing.

Finding contentment in the waiting is key.  Finding the good, the peace, His presence in the quiet is also part of the experience. It is active faith.

It isn’t unusual.  It happens much more than we have noticed.  Jesus’ big launch came with the fanfare of angels singing and Wise Men tracking Him down and giving Him gifts.  Then came tension and they fled to Egypt and then… it went quiet.  The next time we hear about Jesus is when he is a boy and He is learning and talking with the Teacher’s in the temple and even quietly unnoticed by His parents until three days later they realized that they had left Him behind.  Then, it is quiet again, until His baptism at the Jordan River.  We don’t know what all happened in His quiet, but we know He grew and learned.

David was anointed future King of Israel as a child.  It was years later before he became King.  He grew, matured and his faith strengthened.  John the Baptist spent his quiet in the wilderness.  All we know about that time is his poor wardrobe selection and cuisine. (camel hair and locusts) Until the day came when he began preparing the way for the LORD through baptism and Jesus later saying that there had been none greater than John the Baptist up until that time. 

I have experienced my own frustration in the time it takes for God’s time, but I see how much growing I am doing as He turns over every rock and finds a little more that I need to have Him improve on in me.  I learn.  I mature and I am strengthened.

Having listened to many Bible teachers, often their stories go back to that frustrating place of knowing they were “Called” to something, but tried to make it happen their way and it turned out outlandishly embarrassing or frustratingly slow with just a few people to teach.  There are others that expected their new faith to give them an instant “everything is going to be great” ticket.  We have learning, we have growing, we have maturing and strengthening to do.  I find myself most inspired by those that go through hardships, but hold fast to their faith and joy.  Those are the lives that impact me.

If we are honest about it, the learning isn’t always pretty.  I have found lows that I sunk to and needed His forgiveness and that are too embarrassing to confess to here.  I have been grumpy and pouty.  I have been scared or worried.  Those were the behaviors I needed maturing in and still at times need maturing in.  The more that I go through, the quicker I come out of it.

 I am learning His faithfulness while learning to be faith-filled.

What is working is that I have been purposely looking to God. “Starting with His majesty,” a friend recommended to me.    It’s learning to praise and thank Him more instead of pray my lists as often, worship more instead of worry, love more instead of lament, relax more and rest.  There is more of a smile now.  I’m not pressing my nose against the glass saying, “Are we there yet?” nearly as often.  I’m learning how to wait.   

Isaiah 40:31 KJV But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

 

God gives and builds strength and endurance in us in the waiting on Him.  His peace is renewing, His goodness is grace and His love comforts and gives hope.

One of my favorite great waits is found in Acts 1 and 2 as Jesus told them to wait for what the Father had promised.

Acts 1:4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  ESV

Luke 24:9 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." ESV

It reads in Acts that as they waited, they gathered together and prayed together, women and men and it says, “they were one accord.”  They were in agreement and expectancy. They were waiting on a Promise.  Jesus didn’t want them out trying to begin the ministry of The Good News, His Kingdom come, until they had waited and been strengthened and given the power of His Spirit. Because they waited, they were “clothed in power.”  Their ministry took off and Christianity began to reach the ends of the earth.

Settling in and getting comfortable.  Enjoying where I am and knowing I’m growing.  It’s still work, don’t get me wrong.  Waiting is working.  My hope is that I can look back fondly at the times of faithful waiting and know that I enjoyed that time, too.  All of it is part of the journey.  It builds faith.

It makes one look straight into the face of the Promise Maker and trust.

In the waiting is the receiving.

In the waiting is a receiving of great power and strength.

 

Even as the fish made their great escape at the end of the Disney movie, Finding Nemo, they got to where they wanted to be, but it wasn’t quite as they’d imagined. They still weren’t completely done.  My favorite line from the movie…

 

 

Keep holding to your faith.  Keep waiting as you have been told. Growing, maturing, strengthening and if you are told to, “Go” then, “Go.”