DAY 84

WAITING

Joshua 19, 20 & 21 and Luke 2:25 – 52

I have trouble waiting. In America we have a “drive through” culture. I pull up in my car, look at a screen of choices, pick what I want, drive up to the building and get what I want – having never left my car. I can get food, prescriptions, money and even beer this way! I can also “point and click”, never leaving my recliner while I shop from my computer. I am conditioned to not wait.

Israel has been waiting, waiting to receive the Promise Land. They ended up taking a forty year detour, and they had to defeat the occupants of the land to get it – for them there was a lot of waiting and a lot of work. Yet they were waiting on God – a God who is completely faithful. It was not a matter of “if” God would do what He promised; it was rather about “when” He would do it.

In Luke’s gospel we have Simeon and Anna. Simeon was told by God that he would see the Messiah before he died; he has been waiting his entire life. When he sees the child Jesus he is overjoyed, and he took Jesus in his arms, can you imagine what that was like; holding the Son of God when he was small! Then Simeon offers praise and says something very interesting: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

It makes sense that now Simeon can “depart in peace” because he has seen the Messiah. The phrase “a light for revelation to the Gentiles…” That statement is remarkable. After Jesus is raised from the dead, his apostles will struggle with whether Jesus is only for the Jews. It is fairly clear from this passage early in Jesus’ life that he is for the world! It will be the apostle Paul who will champion this point of view.

I imagine the Israelites were thrilled they now had their land; we know Simeon was thrilled. It seems as if God knows that waiting is something we need to learn. Many stories in the Bible involve waiting. Think about what we have read already. There is Abraham, 25 years after he first met God before a child. Think about Moses, how many plagues it took Pharaoh to “get it”.

Waiting, it can be tough. I think we need to make sure we have a key distinction here. If we are waiting for something God has appointed, then it will happen: God is faithful. If we are waiting for something that we want, but it isn’t necessarily what God has designed, then it may or may not.

Waiting can be tough. Waiting for a job, or waiting for a spouse, or waiting for news. What are you waiting for right now? Stay close to God; stay close in prayer, and remember God teaches us to have character traits that are similar to His; we are created in His image. Sometimes I think the act of waiting, learning to wait, is as important as that which we are waiting for, not always, but sometimes.

God knows how to wait – He is patient – He waits patiently for us to come to Him.