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.