What Do We Want From The Waits? (1 Samuel 26:1-25 & John 11:1-45)
Waiting for the Lord is sometimes a difficult thing to do. His time table and mine don't often line up. Sometimes I find myself waiting till I am at a point where there no longer seems like a positive outcome will result. The wait can feel frustrating and difficult. In today's reading, both in the Old and New Testament, I see stories of waiting. They each have different circumstances, different attitudes, different hopes, different waiting but the same God who works his same glory and goodness for the benefit of others is at work.
In the Old Testament we have David. He has done nothing wrong except to be chosen by God to be the next King after Saul. Because of this, King Saul is paranoid and obsessed with David and is constantly pursuing him trying to kill him. In today's reading things are no different. King Saul is after David with 3,000 of his best chosen men. David could have cried out to the Lord and asked why this was happening. Why such a long and difficult wait to become what God told him he would be, King? But we don't read that. We see an opportunity for David to take things into his own hands and to speed up the process. An opportunity for David to end the waiting. David finds his enemy, King Saul and all his men, in a deep sleep. David could have killed Saul and then rightfully taken the throne as God had anointed him to replace Saul. But despite the weariness he had to have felt in being wrongfully pursued, David tells his companion that it is not for him to decided the timing of God's plan. It is not for him to choose when the wait will end. It is not for him to end Saul's reign as King but it is up to God to work and decide the right and best time. In doing so David's actions of restraint lead Saul to back off at that time. David's kingship didn't arrive the next day and he wasn't free from the paranoid threat of Saul but he was free to live in the strength that is found in the hope, and trust of God's perfectly timed plan.
In the New Testament we have Mary and Martha, sisters. Their brother is sick and time is running out for him. They call on the only one they know to help, Jesus. He isn't far away and could arrive in plenty of time to reach his sick friend, Lazarus, and heal him. But Jesus timing is not the same as that of Mary, Martha, or Lazarus. Jesus waits. He waits for 4 days until he knows that his friend has died and been buried, until it seems pointless, and then he say's, "Now it is time." When Jesus arrives both sisters greet him in the same way, "If you had been here ( if your timing was faster) our brother would not have died." They reprimanded the Lord for not having the same timing, the same urgency, as them. What they failed to know was that Jesus had something much bigger planned than just healing their brother. By letting Lazarus die Christ opened up a door of opportunity for others to see his glory at work, to see his power over death, and many of the Jews who had come to comfort the sisters put their faith in Christ because of his waiting. Had Jesus rushed to heal Lazarus many people might not have put their faith in Him. His timing was perfect for so many reason beyond just what the sisters had wanted.
So who am I most often like during the wait? Am I like David who trusts the Lord's timing? Like David during the wait, do I trust the Lord to be my strength and guide? Am I putting my trust and hope in the Lord's plan, to do what He sees and knows to be best? Or am I more like Mary and Martha who want the Lord to work quicker? Like the sisters during their wait, do I want the Lord to resolve things the way I think they should be and then feel defeated when things don't go my way and God then wants to show up? Is my focus more on me, on my life, on my wants and desires than it is on God's glory, God's power, God's grace, God's mercy, God's love, I could keep going for hours here on what can be seen of God's goodness and character after the wait. The truth is I often fail to live more like David. I am not good at waiting while God works. I am like the sisters and can forget that life isn't always about me and what I want and what is going to make my life easier or more pleasant. Life, or my life, should be about living for God's glory, and all the other things I listed above, to be revealed. It is often times about letting God's goodness and character be seen in and through my life and sometimes that happens after the wait.
It comes down to trust in the Lord and a willingness to let my life and the waits be used by Him not just for my benefit but for the benefit of others, for others to possibly have a chance to come to faith. It is a chance to put aside my wants in hopes that others might have a chance to see the goodness and character of God in ways they might not have seen otherwise. I want the waits to have a greater purpose than just meeting my needs and wants.
Life is full of waits. How will you choose to live in them?
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