waiting on the Lord is not time wasted...
Don't you know that the wait was excruciating? They killed Him on Friday, He was going to rise from the dead victoriously on Sunday, but that Saturday had to be one of the longest days. One of those never ending days where sheer minutes seem like hours and hours seem like days, and by the time evening comes it seems like a new season should be arriving. Waiting is never fast nor easy.
Jesus, himself, told them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19) But they probably didn't quite understand it. Either that, or maybe they weren't really that sure he'd be able to do what he said. After all, that seemed like a pretty big promise to make. Maybe they forgot that God is in the business of making and fulfilling big promises. And so Jesus was going to do exactly what he said he was going to do. There was no question about it. He didn't say "Maybe I'll raise it up in three days," or "I'll do my best to try and remember to raise it up in three days." No, he said "I will." A statement, a promise, and Jesus meant it whether or not they actually believed him.
But part of that raising up meant waiting. It meant that they had to exercise extra amounts of faith as it seemed that all hope was lost. They witnessed the horrors of Friday. They knew exactly what happened to their precious Lord, and in the pain and sorrow they may have very well forgotten what he said. Three days may have been the farthest thing from their minds as I'm certain they were filled with grief and fear. And I wonder how many of them struggled with this difficult plan that God had set in place. I wonder if they questioned his methods, if they thought, "Why did it have to happen this way?" I wonder if they felt discouraged and disappointed that their circumstances had so quickly changed. And I just wonder if they, in the back of their minds, happened to recall "three days" and questioned why God would make them wait.
Well it's on the Saturdays, during the waiting, that our character is tested. It's during the wait that we are refined. And while we wait, our faith has a great chance to grow. Even though the wait is hard, God is doing something as we wait. He is working in ways we can't see, constructing a plan greater than we could fathom. But sometimes that requires a wait. A wait that may be painful, a wait that may be difficult. A wait that might be scary, or even a wait that might be uncertain. Yet He who promises is faithful, and we can know that we're in a good place when we're waiting on the Lord. We can rest assured that when we wait on God, His purposes are being accomplished. We may not see them play out, or we may not know how long it will be, but waiting on the Lord is not time wasted. Waiting on the Lord simply puts you in a position to receive whatever good thing he has in store for you. Two thousand years ago, they were waiting on the Risen Savior, and don't you know that the moment they saw his resurrected body with their own eyes, the time they had waited didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that he was there, alive, just like he had said he would be.
So maybe it's your Saturday, your waiting period. Maybe you're waiting on the Lord to act, to fulfill a promise. Don't give up. Keep waiting. It will come, whenever he is ready, and it will be worth the wait.
"Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord." - Psalm 27:14
Jesus, himself, told them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19) But they probably didn't quite understand it. Either that, or maybe they weren't really that sure he'd be able to do what he said. After all, that seemed like a pretty big promise to make. Maybe they forgot that God is in the business of making and fulfilling big promises. And so Jesus was going to do exactly what he said he was going to do. There was no question about it. He didn't say "Maybe I'll raise it up in three days," or "I'll do my best to try and remember to raise it up in three days." No, he said "I will." A statement, a promise, and Jesus meant it whether or not they actually believed him.
But part of that raising up meant waiting. It meant that they had to exercise extra amounts of faith as it seemed that all hope was lost. They witnessed the horrors of Friday. They knew exactly what happened to their precious Lord, and in the pain and sorrow they may have very well forgotten what he said. Three days may have been the farthest thing from their minds as I'm certain they were filled with grief and fear. And I wonder how many of them struggled with this difficult plan that God had set in place. I wonder if they questioned his methods, if they thought, "Why did it have to happen this way?" I wonder if they felt discouraged and disappointed that their circumstances had so quickly changed. And I just wonder if they, in the back of their minds, happened to recall "three days" and questioned why God would make them wait.
Well it's on the Saturdays, during the waiting, that our character is tested. It's during the wait that we are refined. And while we wait, our faith has a great chance to grow. Even though the wait is hard, God is doing something as we wait. He is working in ways we can't see, constructing a plan greater than we could fathom. But sometimes that requires a wait. A wait that may be painful, a wait that may be difficult. A wait that might be scary, or even a wait that might be uncertain. Yet He who promises is faithful, and we can know that we're in a good place when we're waiting on the Lord. We can rest assured that when we wait on God, His purposes are being accomplished. We may not see them play out, or we may not know how long it will be, but waiting on the Lord is not time wasted. Waiting on the Lord simply puts you in a position to receive whatever good thing he has in store for you. Two thousand years ago, they were waiting on the Risen Savior, and don't you know that the moment they saw his resurrected body with their own eyes, the time they had waited didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that he was there, alive, just like he had said he would be.
So maybe it's your Saturday, your waiting period. Maybe you're waiting on the Lord to act, to fulfill a promise. Don't give up. Keep waiting. It will come, whenever he is ready, and it will be worth the wait.
"Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord." - Psalm 27:14
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