Learn to Wait? ...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011. Yesterday we have talked about red and green lights - and about times of waiting. The bible knows “patience” as a key virtue. It talks about times of waiting. What are these times good for? Why do we need to wait? What is good about patience? We need to think about that!

Why waiting m be important …

I do not want to develop a particular “philosophy of waiting”. However, it might be a good point to observe what happens when times of waiting take place. When we are forced to wait, that is usually a time of intensive thinking, of intensive criticism, of intensive readjustment of our goals and priorities!

Waiting can be bad. It depends on our way we carry it out. Some people get bitter. They start to complain, they slide into a mode of unproductive lamentation. Then, all the waiting is of no use. Then, not much positive happens. When we come out of a waiting time and have not learned a lot for our character, it is useless!

But waiting can be very good. It can be extremely productive. It can be an important time of our life. When we use it to think about what is important to us. When we use it to readjust our priorities, to see more about what has happened already, to see how rich we are, how extremely fascinating our body is, our senses, our ability to reason and to feel, to communicate, to sing, to feel joy, to feel sadness and pain. A waiting time can be a time where we meet reality!

God's Purpose and Timescale …

The bible talks about important times of waiting. The people of Israel had to stay in the desert for 40 years. It was a time of waiting, but also a time of wonder, a time of provision, a time of learning. Some of them did learn, others did not. The five books of Moses talk about these experiences and their consequences …

The people of Israel had to wait for around 400 years for Jesus. It was clear that some special guy would come. It was clear from many words of the prophets that the Messiah would come soon. But it took many centuries until it became reality. God has his own schedule. He has his own timescale!

Today our Christian lifes are similar. God gives some things immediately and steadily. Others are different - we need to wait. There is no discipleship without times of waiting, without times of learning, without meeting reality! So waiting is part of his abundant grace, which gives us a good mixture of progress and patience, to learn from him, to develop towards him. ... more texts