A New Perspective

On the way to now things changed.  Actually, the change started back some nine years ago when retirement moved me from the pulpit to the tractor.  As I began to meander around the farm doing its chores, things starting changing inside of me in a way I could never have imagined back in the working days.  I became aware of a new way of thinking theology.  Being out midst the creation day after day began to cause me to think about God and my relationship with Him in a way that was different from a theology based completely on the Word and the teachings of the Church.

 

While this process started back in those early days of being on the farm, it moved from a strange inner awareness to a more conscious practice as I started reading book after book on Celtic spirituality.  Certainly, this stream of spirituality has not replaced everything about my view of God, but it is has opened up new windows which have enabled me to experience His presence in the ordinary things around me.  The Celtic tradition holds that the Creation is a book which needs to be read as one reads the written Word.  As the year prepares to drop off the calendar, there is within me a greater understanding of what seems to be a word bordering on heresy.

 

But, of course, the Celtic tradition is not heresy.  It is simply a stream of spirituality which calls us to pay attention to everything and everyone around us.  It calls us to embrace the possibility that God chooses to reveal Himself through the creation around us in addition to the ministry and teachings of the church.  This tradition declares that the interior of church buildings are not the only holy places, but instead, the whole world is holy because it has been touched by the creative power of God.  So, I have come to see the creation that is so very much around me as a great cathedral in which God is constantly being worshiped.  It is a different view of the Holy.  It is one which is transforming my perspective of all that is around me. 

An Ever Rolling Stream

As the days race toward the end of the year, I have found myself singing softly so that no one will be disturbed a great old hymn written by Isaac Watts.  Written in 1719, it still stands as one of the oft sung hymns of the gathered church.  It is filled with words about time.  "O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,..." it begins.  The fourth verse refers to "a thousand years"  and the fifth one has us singing, "Time, like an ever rolling streams, bears all who breathe away; they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day."  While it may seem like a rather morbid song to some, how important it is that there remains a place which calls us to be in touch with our mortality as well as eternity which is what the last verse does as it speaks of "our eternal home."

 

Living with an awareness of numbered days is not a morbid thing, but a thing which can enable us to live wisely.  Some of the great spiritual writers call us to live mindful of our death.  To live knowing that we are only here for a brief season will bring us to a different place in our living than to live thinking that we will be here forever.  The Word of God is written in the context of time.  People's lives are numbered by the years and events are described in terms of the passing time. 

 

And, it is also true that the creation sounds the same message as we watch the sun moving across the sky, or count the rings in a fallen tree, or  observe the way everything changes with such order.  Nothing happens outside the context of time.  Time is eternal.  It was brought into being by the Creator and will continue even when the earthly clocks are replaced by the unfolding of an eternal and unending eternity.  God has put us here on this earth to experience everything between the time of our birth and the time of our death.  And, through the death of the Bethlehem child on the cross, He has provided a way for us to know the unbounded life which can only be known as eternity. 

Holy Mystery

All summer there was no rain.  Everything that needed rain suffered.  Some of it died.  The nearby river was so low that in places people were walking across in knee deep water.  More recently, rain has come in flooding measures.  The ground has gone beyond the saturation point.  The nearby branch which has been without water for so long is now like a mountain stream as the backed up water races to get from where it is to where it needs to go.  And, the river down the road is out of its banks.  Actually, out of its bank is a poor way to speak of the now broad and deep flowing waters.

 

The creation has modeled extremes this year.  It has modeled the power of the drought and the power of the flood.  Creation is not the keeper of moderation.  It is a power that is beyond human control.  It is a power that is apart from us and not dependent upon us.  It is ongoing.  It has always been since the divine Words brought it into being.  And, it shall always be wild and unpredictable, and likely as not, to overwhelm the boundaries that mark what is safe and secure. 

 

To watch and contemplate the flooded river as it runs it's course from trickling stream to the wide ocean is to be brought to an awareness that as powerful as it appears to be, it is only a mere stream when compared to the unleashed power of the Almighty Creating God of the universe who brought it and everything else into being.  Certainly, it is not easy to understand the Creator God who allows rivers to dry up when the land is thirsty and to flood when bottom land is ready for harvest.  Despite all our scientific technology and our human understanding, there remains great mystery in the way the creation is always unfolding, uprooting, and giving birth.  And, so it is with God the Creator and the Mystery which always envelopes Him. 

Thin Places

Thin places,
  between
    here and there,
      seen and unseen.
Visible, invisible,
   now you see it,
     now you don't,
        the thin veil.

Thin places,
   in the field
    shepherds
      saw angels.
A glimpse of glory?
  An earthy coming?
    Holy mingling,
     heaven and earth.

Thin places,
   around Paul
    on the road,
      blinded.
Too much glory
   for eyes to see,
    heaven came,
     upon the dirt. 

Thin places,
  angels hovering
    saints praying,
     over there.
Just beyond,
  out of sight,
   still there,
    behind the veil. 

Afterwards

Pain swept away,
  joy remains,
   hope growing,
and, wonder, too,
  for the baby child
   crying in the manger.

Anxiety gone,
  now a memory,
   ahead in view,
and, amazement, too,
   as coming shepherds,
    speak of angels.

A heart warmed,
  flooded with love,
   overcome by Him,
and, gratitude, too,
  for God's goodness,
   the gift of His Son. 

While Watching Rocky Ford Road

Rocky Ford Road is the paved road about a half mile from the house.  A dirt road between here and there is the connecting link.  As Christmas Eve darkened I stood for a moment on the front porch looking across the field toward this stretch of asphalt.  The winter's work on tree foliage heightened both visibility and the unusual sound of cars and trucks on their journey.  To stand for a moment was to see the sight of headlights racing and to hear the roar of tires and engines on the road.  On Christmas Eve even the normally quiet Rocky Ford Road is busy with people on their way.

 

Perhaps, it was the same on the road leading to Bethlehem that night Joseph and Mary traveled.  Surely, they were not alone out there in the darkness.   Others were no doubt hurrying to get where they wanted to be before the night hours got too deep.  And, likely as not the journey seemed like a journey that would never end for the two who traveled.  Mary knew the time for birthing was near and Joseph was anxious to find a safe place.  Constantly they must have looked at one another with eyes which wondered, "How much farther can it be?"

In the darkness filled with uncertainty it must have been hard for them to know that they were not traveling alone.  In a way impossible for them to comprehend, God was with them.  It is no less true as we travel through the darkness which feels heavy upon our own life.  God is with us.  He is with us in ways impossible for us to comprehend.  There is a sense that He is the One who set us out on this journey we travel.  We are sometimes in such a hurry to get to some place like the lighted streets of Bethlehem that we forget the One who sent us out is with us not only in the lighted places where we feel safe, but also in the dark places where danger and uncertainty seem present at every step. 

Trough to Tomb

The Word became flesh,
   but not just any flesh,
    the flesh and face
     of a newborn boy,
born now in Bethlehem,
of the woman, Mary.

In the face of the child,
 comes the face of God,
   the heart of God,
    the hands and feet,
set loose on the earth's dirt,
the Creator still at work.

Wonder of wonder,
  what God has done,
    sent the divine Son,
     One most beloved,
to walk the hard way,
from trough to tomb. 

Born of the Virgin Mary

From Shekinah glory,
 to deepest darkness,
  to manger candlelight,
   came the Holy One,
born of the virgin Mary.

Where no pain prevailed,
  but the pain of broken heart,
   the agony of watching sin,
    came the child of Bethlehem,
born of the virgin Mary.

Heaven's joy forsaken,
  for a trough of smelly hay,
   a painful wooden cross,
    came the child to suffer,
born of the virgin Mary.

From darkness to glory,
  the saving work done,
   now there and here,
    came the One to Rise,
born of the virgin Mary.

The Traveled Road

The long road,
  the hard road,
   jolting holes,
The one taken,
   by three souls
    on their way
to Bethlehem.

A longer road,
  though shorter,
   hard as death,
The one taken
  by the child,
   grown a man
to Golgotha.

The quickest road,
  most glorious,
   on day three,
The one taken,
  by the Risen One,
   on His way
to whence He came. 

Long Time Coming

Nothing haphazardous,
   everything planned,
     according to schedule,
      every "t" crossed,
a time completely come,
Christ in Bethlehem.

A time long time coming
   more than nine months,
    longer than a journey,
     a plan beyond planning,
from back in the beginning,
God's plan to send His Son.

As prophets foretold,
   as hopeful souls waited,
     as Mary wondered when,
      as hearts filled with longing,
every single detail finally done,
Jesus became flesh as a baby.

(Galatians 4:4)

Invisible Ones

Ever present,
  mostly unseen,
    just beyond,
invisible.

Shepherds
  watching,
    all the while
being watched.

From the night,
  starlit darkness
   invisible ones
now visible.

Announcing,
  the Invisible One
   now Visible
in Bethlehem.

The Light

Light of all light,
Light before any light,
Light unending,
   destroying darkness,
   making shadows,
Light of the "I Am,"
Light of the world.

Light of Bethlehem,
Light of joy,
Light of hope,
    illuminating,
    enlightening ,
Light of now,
Light of then.

Light of brilliance,
Light of softness,
Light incomparable,
    Visible like fire,
     Invisible like wind,
Light that is coming.
Light that has come.

In Those Days

In those days
  a decree went out
    to all creation
     that everyone
      and everything
        should look
to an obscure village
belonging to Judea.

All and everything,
   heavenly host,
    Gabriel and company,
      grandstand witnesses,
        stars and moon,
          rocks and trees,
all one great chorus
ready to sing praises.

Throughout the ages,
  praise from them,
   praise from us,
     every one of us,
       saints and sinners,
         even me, even you,
waiting to loudly shout,
"Glory to God in the highest!"

The Journey

Swollen and stretched
  she rode silently
   midst the darkness
     on the dusty road.
Every step below
  took her up and down
    till no part of her
     was not shaken.
Watching for lights
   signaling the end
    of a hard journey
     the jarring pain.
The child within her
   stirring and moving
     ready and pushing
      but still waiting.
Waiting for the time
   of divine choosing
     in a small place
      long ago decided.     

The Dweller

Full of Majesty
  Shining with Glory
    Divine and Holy,
In form of God,
  None like Him,
    Heaven Dweller.

A mere speck
  In a womb,
   nearly nothing.
Waiting,
   Slowly changing,
     Darkness Dweller. 

Now among us,
  Within us,
    Alongside us.
God become flesh,
   Ever present,
    Human Dweller.

A strange journey,
  From glory
   to birth water.
From heaven,
   to Calvary,
    Cross Dweller. 

Evening Praise

Stretched out bare,
  in a bright night sky,
   silhouetted and still.
Arms and hands
   waving in praise
     to the Creator.

Listening hard
  for the sounds
   of limbs speaking.
Surely, sounds
  unheard here,
   are rising upward.

All around us
  waits with joy
    for the cry,
the soft sound
  from the stable,
   a child, a Savior.

The Water

One by one 
  from the edge
    they slowly came,
Into the water,
   muddy water,
     but not as dark
as the staining sin
to be washed away. 

In the water,
   first knee deep, 
     now waist deep,
then taken under,
   immersed in mystery.
     Dreadful sin
now a memory,
washed down river.

In the Son,
   now walking,
     washed clean.
Something new,
   born once more,
     not like before.
Forgiven and free,
by the water. 

Fish to Fry

I think of a seminary prof often when I come to the  word "but" in Scripture.  He always said it was a stop sign.  And if not a stop sign, it was at least one that said to slow down.   Over the years I have learned the value of what he taught us.  In that third chapter of Matthew, the gospel writer tells the story of John the Baptist when suddenly the word "but" appears in the text.  "Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him...and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins..."  (Matthew 3:5-6) 

 

The next verse throws out the stop sign.  "But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!' "  What the Baptizer saw were people of power and pretense who were coming to the Jordan River for all the wrong reasons.  They were not coming to the place made holy by the work of God as seekers, but as power brokers who were concerned about someone else gaining the ear and heart of the people.  These pillars of Judaism were out there for the wrong reasons.  There was no spirit of repentance and confession in them.  They were there to insure they did not lose control. 

It was not the first time folks showed up in a place made holy by the work of God for the wrong reasons.  It still happens today.  But, instead of hunting them out and exposing them which might be the work of the self-righteous, our call is to sit alongside without a fault finding and judgmental spirit.  As soon as we start looking around, we cease looking at ourselves and the sins of our own heart.  At that point we become like those Pharisees and Sadducees.  Leave it to John the Baptist to call them, "brood of vipers."  We have our own fish to fry!

The New Kingdom

Unlike the prophets of Israel's past,  John the Baptist had no carved images of Baal cluttering his view.  His message about repentance had nothing to do with turning from idol worship to the worship of the one true and only God of their tradition.  The repentance he preached was related not so much to a particular sin of the people as it was to their need to ready themselves for the new spiritual order which was about to break upon them through Jesus and His Kingdom message.

By the time John the Baptist made himself known in the wilderness areas around the Jordan River, the people of Israel were immersed in a religious system based on doing.  Righteousness had to do with keeping the commandments of God and the man made laws which had grown around them.  While Jesus did not come to abolish the law, He did seek to create a spiritual climate where doing was replaced by being.  What one did was not more important than what was in the heart.  Having defined themselves and their life with God for so long by the external visible things, turning to this new and different way represented a significant change.

 

It remains a challenge for those of us who walk the road of faith in these days.  We like the external markers which measure our faithfulness.  The external stuff enables us to experience what seems like a measure of control.  It feels comfortable for us when we know what to expect of ourselves and everyone else as well.  But, then there is this new Kingdom which has come.  It is a Kingdom where spirituality is determined by the invisible things of the heart.  It is a Kingdom where what we do has no saving power.  It is a Kingdom where the cross looms large. It is a Kingdom that defies being able to figure it out, but one where holy mystery prevails and the way forward is always taking us into unknown territory. 

Pray for Mercy

It is puzzling that people found John the Baptist in the wilderness.  It is not puzzling that the Baptizer was in the wilderness.  What is puzzling is that people found him in a place not normally frequented and so inaccessible.  There was no prototype of today's evening news team which had a "Wilderness Reporter."  No newspapers carried a word about him in its religious section on the day before Sabbath.  It is puzzling that someone found him and that after the one found him, others came. 

 

It is even more puzzling that a crowd would gather.  Surely, the first reports which found their way back to the more civilized places filled with the sophisticated folks were reports of a crude man who preached a hard to swallow message.  Yet, the Record tells us that folks went out not only to hear this man of the wilderness, but to do a very un-Jewish like thing which was baptism.  Jews needed no baptism in muddy river waters.  They knew they were already the people of God.  Still, they went.  What is no puzzle is the  presence of the pillars of the religious status quo, the Pharisees and Sadducees.  They came to check on things and to do whatever had to be done to restore order to the religious insanity that had broken out on the banks of the Jordan.

The church of our day could use a good strong dose of religious insanity.  Theology has gotten so sanitized that God can only wear the mantle of love.  He has become a one dimensional Deity who is eager to give a wink of approval to human craziness.  The church has come to be more like the Pharisees and Sadducees assuming the role of chief defender and protector of the institutional status quo.  And, believe it or not, there are even preachers and pew sitters out there who declare there is no need for the kind of repentance preached by that wild man of the wilderness.  If we cannot bring ourselves to pray for a repenting spirit, maybe, just maybe, we should pray for the mercy of God. 

A Changed Heart

Although John the Baptist appears on the church's liturgical stage in the weeks before Christmas, we never hear him saying, "Merry Christmas!"  Instead he stands out there knee deep in the waters of the Jordan hollering, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near."  (Matthew 3:2)  He and Jesus were on the same page in those days.  As Matthew writes about the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he remembers the Savior's first recorded sermon, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near."  (Matthew 4:17)   

 

Repentance has gotten watered down through the centuries.  There was a time when some kind of monetary sacrifice accompanied it, but these days, it comes as cheap as saying, "I'm sorry."  When we look for the meaning of the word, we find that it speaks of a turning from one thing and going in a different direction.  Zachaeus modeled that definition.  But, the truth about repentance is that it is more than an external visible act, but something which points to some serious heart work. 

 

Most of us can figure out how to change some of the externals of our life.  The difficult thing for us is changing the heart.  The heart is the source of our actions and motivations.  It is one thing to turn from speaking dishonestly, but another thing for the heart to be so radically changed that it is no longer an option.  Both John the Baptist and Jesus were calling for a radical change of the heart when they announced the nearness of the Kingdom of heaven.  A new reign requires a new loyalty.  A Kingdom with love as its foundation is now upon us and if there is anything within us that motives us to act other than love, then we do indeed have some radical work of the heart to do. 

The Uncomfortable Word

Long centuries before Zechariah and Elizabeth were fretting over not having a son, God was inspiring one of Israel's prophet to speak of him.  "A voice cries out:  'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for God...' "  (Isaiah 40:3)  Zechariah and Elizabeth would call him John.  As John became a man and assumed this mantle of "the voice," he would be known as John the Baptist.  The Baptizer would be a kinsman of the Messiah, one also spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.

To be known simply as "the voice" which is how Matthew spoke of him in his gospel is an interesting thing.  Certainly, all the Biblical descriptions of John the Baptist do not point us to a preacher who was pleasing to the eye.  And being a man of the wilderness who dressed in clothing of camel's hair, it is likely some might hold their nose in his presence.  What drew people to him was not anything physical, but the longing in the heart of the people for someone to come as their deliverer.  Most likely they were more concerned about one coming to deliver them from Rome, from economic oppression, and a controlling religious system than they were concerned about one coming to call them to repent of their sins as a way of making ready for what God was about to do.

It remains much the same today.  It is not popular to preach about sin.  If a preacher  becomes a voice which proclaims the urgency of acknowledging that there is something wrong within  the heart which can only be cured by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, it is likely that he will be regarded as one whose preaching is incompatible with reality.  It is no easy thing being a preacher in the mold of John the Baptist and an even harder thing to be one of those who intentionally goes to the preaching places where the hard and uncomfortable word about the human condition is faithfully preached. 

The Unwanted Message

The second Sunday of Advent always brings John the Baptist on stage.   Center stage.  Those who have already brought out their manger scenes and started singing the songs of Christmas consider him out of place.  In the minds of those who are trying to hurry up Christmas, it is time for Jesus to show up in the manger.  No one has time for John the Baptist.  He just seems like a displaced person in the world going festive and bright. 

But, it is not just the Christmas revelers who have no place for John.  In so many of the holy places where people gather in these days, he is the person who is never mentioned.  As the days of December start gathering steam, the church  hurries to get on with the story of shepherds and angels and the extraordinary birth in Bethlehem.  While the contemporary church has surely come to a place of thinking that it knows best and centuries of tradition have no bearing on what is happening in the present, it is also true that such thinking leaves off an important part of what is involved in this holy season.

The real preparation and getting ready is not found in the stuff of secular culture.  It is not found in the meaningless gift giving and the bright decorations.  It is really found in the place where quietness and silence should prevail.  What needs to be prepared is not outside, but inside.  What needs to be prepared is the heart, the inner part of us that provides the dwelling place for the Holy One.  The message of John the Baptist is one that announces that there is something fundamentally wrong about the way we live.  It is a message that declares the necessity of radical movement away from where we are to where God is leading us.  John's message is the message of repentance which is exactly what no one wants to hear today.

Wherever

The last leaf
  midway up,
   resisting,
    turning loose
     and falling
      to wherever.

Moving wind, 
  unrelenting,
    persistent,
      persuasive,
       taking now
        to wherever.

Blowing Breath,
 Holy Breath.
   Like the leaf
    those who wait,
     move them now,
      to wherever.   

Waiting In Silence

Across the years I have run into a person or two who were so determined to get an answer from God that they said they were going to get on their knees and pray until it came.  They were the kind of folks who would set out to pray all night to get their prayer answered.  And, while I have never done such an all nighter, there have been times when I have prayed with such an attitude.  Looking back I suspect God must have shook His head and muttered something like, "Just who does he think he is....God?"  

To pray with such a mindset puts us in a different category than the one who comes before God with a waiting spirit.  Even as waiting anywhere is difficult for most of us, to wait on God to do whatever it is that is about to do is all but an impossible task.  The problem often has to do with our expectations when we pray.  Those who pray with a waiting spirit are not seeking the things God gives, but God.  Those who pray with a waiting spirit are not after some blessing, but simply seeking the presence of God.  What He does or does not give is irrelevant.  All that matters is that He is present. 

And, of course, there are also those moments when waiting takes us to a place where it seems that God has suddenly become silent.  We seek a Word and there is none.  We seek a sense of holy presence that never comes.  These are the real moments that measure the spirit which dwells in us.  To wait in such moments is a discipline that is not practiced by the spiritually faint of heart, but is more likely to come only after prayers that bear the scars of disappointment, struggle, and hardship for it is our journey through such difficult hours that bring us to a confidence that God never forsakes even though every thing around us seems to say otherwise. 

Ready for Whatever

Waiting takes the "take charge card' out of the deck.  To wait on God with a right spirit means that being in charge of whatever is now and is to come is no longer an option.  Instead of forcing our way into the future with our well made plans, waiting on God means that we let God's future unfold and come to us in His time.  Such an attitude goes against the grain of everything to which we have held so tightly for so long.  Such an attitude takes us to a place where life is no longer determined by what others think of how well we are doing and where we are no longer caught up in cultural games of trivial pursuit.

As Advent beckons us to embrace this spirit of waiting, it is reminding us that whatever it is that God is about in our future will not come a moment sooner or later than He plans for it come.  The plans He has made for the creation and those of us who walk within it are His and not ours.  His invitation is to be a part of those plans, to step into the stream of what He is about in the world and in our lives, and to do so with a faith that seeks no guarantees.  As the early days of Advent remind us that the One who has come is coming to restore an order fit for eternity, we know that such is exactly what He is about in our lives.  He is making us fit for eternity.

We cannot manipulate the when, the what, or the where of the Heavenly Hand.  To live rightly is to live knowing that He is at work in the days which are a part of the present as well as those which stretch out there in the era of the unknown and un-seeable.  To trust Him with whatever is ahead is to live with the spirit of readiness.  And, such is the call of the days we know as Advent.  God is out there.  He is on His way.  He is here.  Be ready.  Be ready now for whatever. 

Waiting in Darkness

There are times when we wait on God to act in places where the shadows are long, so long they become a great darkness all around us.  Not all of our waiting on God is done in the moments when our spiritual life seems in order and there is no battle to be waged.  Instead, when the long shadows turn into deep darkness and the battle for making it turns desperate, the waiting seems unfair and unbearable.  Yet, even in such moments, God still persists in coming and acting and making Himself known according to His time and not our own.

 

Surely, there has been no greater moment of darkness on the face of the earth than that moment when the cross was raised on Golgotha.  For hours Jesus hung between heaven and earth, life and death, hope and despair.  As He hung midst the darkness of those hours, it was surely for Him a moment of waiting for God to act.  Finally, there came that moment for Him of casting His voice into that darkness.  But, even when He cried out the words of one who seemed forsaken, the silence remained and even then He waited on God to act. 

As we consider this old story again, we know that there always comes a moment when God chooses to do what is according to His plans and purposes for those who love Him.  There is a sense in which that darkness was shattered and the silence broken on that Sunday morning when the mourners came to find the tomb empty.  God can be depended on to come.  He can be depended on to speak.  He can be depended on to deliver.  He can be depended on to open the gates of eternity.  He can be depended on by those who wait and ask nothing more than to be remembered. 

Waiting and Trusting

Waiting on God to act may seem like a spiritual discipline which requires a great deal of human determination.  After all, God has shown Himself to be One who is sometimes swayed by our crying out.  While human persistence is a Biblical virtue, it does not always result in causing a desired action from God.  What is obvious is that waiting on God to act is a spiritual act expressed more by trust than determination. 

 

Waiting on God is about trusting God.  Trusting in God is a spiritual response which is independent of any response God might make to our crying out for Him to be at work in our lives.  Trusting in God does not require a specific action.  It does not require any action.  When we wait on God, we are trusting in God to be God, to be faithful to His nature, and to do for us whatever it is that He chooses to do.  Waiting on God speaks of a trust that accepts and desires nothing more than for Him to do with us whatever it is that is pleasing to Him, or a part of His plan for us. 

 

When we think about His plan for us, we usually think about some blessing that is clearly visible, but His plan for us may be more present in the invisible realm of life than the one that is visible to our eyes.  When we cannot see any reason for what is taking place in our life, God can.  When the way forward is impossible to know, God knows.  When our soul and body needs mending, God is at work to bring that healing to bear in our lives.  He is always about more than we can see.  Waiting on God does not require Him to get around to making any of the invisible stuff of the heavenly dimension visible at any specific moment.  Waiting on God simply means that we trust God to do whatever it is that God chooses to do to bring the invisible spiritual blessings to bear in the flawed physical realm in which we live.

Waiting on Time

We sometimes give out on waiting for God to act.  Anyone who doubts it should ask Abraham and Sarah.  Or, maybe ask Noah as he sat for all those long days and nights in a boat filled with animals.  Certainly the Hebrew people learned about waiting while they were in Egypt and then again while in the wilderness.  And, of course, sometimes the waiting ends in ways not considered desirable.  Ask some of the ones who have been martyred for their faith.  What seems more obvious than we would like for it to be is the reality that God never really seems to be in a hurry.

 

Knowing this truth about God has not kept us from doing our own version of trying to speed up God.  Our prayers are filled with petitions that speak more of timeliness than patient waiting.   What we want and seem to need is not something that is pressing our future, but pressing into the present moment of our life.  It is always the present moment of our life where we want God to act and to act now.  The Word may teach us over and over again that God is not one to be hurried because we want our future now, but it is a truth we have always been slow to embrace. 

 

It is not only the Word which teaches us to wait on God, but all of creation.  Nothing about the creation God has put in place around us seems in a hurry.  While the slowness imbedded in creation may seem irrelevant, it is for others a means by which we catch a glimpse of how God is at work in the world, and, therefore, in our lives.  As the cold settles over the ground and all that was once green has turned to deep shades of brown and as the foliage which was once so full in the air is now waiting on the ground to become part of the dirt again, so it is with God being at work in the things that touch us.  His plan continues without any awareness of the human clock.  Instead, it works according to how it is that He can bring about the  best possible good in our lives.  And, sometimes it just takes time.