Denise Whitfield
Director of Christian Education
BE BUSY WAITING
We are not good at waiting. And if we are honest, we can get a little frustrated with God when He doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly—or at least as quickly as we would like. And yet, God has been extremely honest with us about His use of time. He has not misrepresented Himself. The Scripture is a record of God taking His time . . . of seeming to be in no hurry to bring to completion His purposes. The story of Noah is just one example—a hundred years to build a boat in a dry land. Abraham—decades beyond masculine vitality before the promised son is born. Moses—ripped from the luxury of Pharaoh’s court and 40 years as an obscure shepherd before the call to lead His people to their promised home. Joseph—years of faithfulness continually met with hardship and opposition before his dreams come true. The nation of Israel—hundreds of years of silence before the Final Word, the Messiah is born.
Silence, unchanged circumstances, conflict, and loss are not evidence of God’s absence or inactivity. On the contrary, God is always present and at work. Hebrews tells us that the men mentioned above exercised faith—believing in God’s behind the scenes, invisible working. And that faith was credited to them as righteousness.
In the same way that we must not mistake a lack of visible evidence as God’s inactivity, we must not mistake a call to waiting as prescribed inactivity for us. Waiting is a call to faith. And faith is always active. Believing is something you do—to the honor and glory of God. So in your required adherence to the governor’s STAY AT HOME order, while you wait, seize the opportunities to keep growing in the knowledge of Him, keep believing Him true to His promises, keep praying for an outpouring of His grace and mercy, keep creatively “one anothering,”and keep expecting to see His purposes fulfilled. Be busy waiting.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:25
“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf
of those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:4