Waiting

A dear sister in Christ and I were talking recently...about waiting. God sure makes us wait a lot. It's all through the Bible too. Noah waited for rain as he built the ark in faith, Abraham and Sarah waited for a child a really long time, the Israelites wandered and waited for someone to become the permanent scapegoat for sin and for the curse of it to go away forever. We wait too.

Lately I've been waiting for things to go smoothly, but they don't always. I wait in traffic, for resolution of conflict, for my feelings to change from gray to sunny, for my loneliness to go away and never come back, for my children to grow up, for my art to sell or for direction with getting children's books published (a dream of mine), for my comfort, to lose weight, and for my speech to be edifying. I am always hopeful that things would PERMANENTLY change.

As I read in Luke 5 today, Jesus tells Simon to put down his nets. Simon has been waiting and working ALL NIGHT without catching a single thing. I definitely feel like that sometimes. Nothing is changing. Nothing is working. Nothing makes sense. Why isn't this working out? Why do I need to keep waiting, Lord?

Jesus had to wait. He grew up, he traveled, he taught, he loved ceaselessly, he served constantly, he HAD to be frustrated as so many heard but didn't really hear. He knew thoughts and intentions of hearts. He had to wait to do His Father's will in His Father's time. He had to wait to die, knowing it was coming. But Jesus had His eyes fixed on His Father at all times. "Not my will, but thine." He challenges Simon to keep going after no results and Simon says, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5). They caught so many fish that their nets began to break! In the same way Noah watched the torrent of water and was saved, Abraham and Sarah had a baby boy and laughed a lot, and the Israelites have Jesus and lots of exciting promises yet to come.

Waiting. It really goes hand in hand with faith. Trusting Him who you do not see. Trusting His timing is really right. Trusting He controls it perfectly. Trusting Him changing my heart. Trusting His sufficiency in my struggles. Trusting Him to work in those around me. And as the struggle to not abide in Him and wait rages...remaining faithful. I want to say, "Because You say so, Jesus!"