Waiting for God
by David L Lewis
Original blog on Brazil Times website posted 2013, updated March 2023
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” (John 21.18, ASV)
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“Waiting for God” was a British sitcom seen on PBS from 1990 to 1994. The show portrayed two 70’s something residents of a retirement home who spent their time running rings around their families and the home's oppressive management. Now that I’m nearing the big 8-0 “Waiting for God” is probably excellent preparation for last step in life known euphemistically as ‘good as it gets’
As it comes to all loved and loving children, our kids are plotting these days to send us to one of those ‘retirement’ homes! After our most recent go-arounds with heart, health, and happiness, said kids may well have good reason in conspiring to consign me and Kay to “waiting for God” status.
Truth is that the hardest thing to do is waiting for God.
It turns out that with God most things are a matter of a lot of waiting. And, as we wait it often seems like His (and our) enemies are triumphing, while God seems to be taking His own sweet time in getting things done. Christians are left holding on to Romans 8.28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
If God has only me to deal with, that purpose can be worked out a bit more quickly. If, to fulfill His purposes, He really does want me to stop beating my wife with wet spaghetti, I’m pretty sure I can. Getting my life in line with His requirements is a bore, but very effective in finding His purposes.
The delay usually comes about because there are other people, circumstances, and conflicts to be considered. When others must first align with His purposes, solution to our problem takes a while.
As Americans, though, we’ve come to expect a certain level of instantaneous co-operation by the Almighty, saying: “By the way, Lord, I’m more interested in my purposes than in Yours, anyway.”
For those who learn to wait, it usually all works out well. Most Christians really do find “all things work together for good”. Problem is that it took some considerable amount of time to do so. When God was finally able to work it out with all those people, circumstances, and conflicts, the proffered prayers had long since been forgotten. Lost, too, is how bad it was. how fervently was prayed for His solution. By time we no longer need to wait for God, we’ve already gone on to next request.
We used to sing a chorus based on Isaiah 40.31 which went:
They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength
They shall run and not be weary
They shall walk and shall not faint
Wait, wait I say, on the Lord
and I, too, begin waiting for God.
