At dance competitions or shows, my husband and I have a
saying, “Hurry up and wait.” Given the unpredictable nature of scheduling at
such events, there is always a rush to arrive at the venue in plenty of time to
register, get a feel for the dance floor, warm up, change, and pray before the
event is called. But once we do this, there is often a long wait before we
dance, with the risk that muscles will get stiff and cold, that we need to
refuel, and that costumes and makeup will need additional readjusting.
The same is true in many circumstances of daily life, like
commuting. The morning scramble of dressing and grabbing a bite to eat before
rushing out the door often results in a seemingly endless wait in a traffic
jam. Or, once we breathlessly race into the important morning meeting for fear
we’ll be late, we end up just sitting there restlessly for twenty minutes until
the boss saunters in to rally the troops.
These moments of waiting need not be wasted, as our time on
earth is short and precious (Job 14:1;
James 4:14), and we should redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5). While waiting to
dance, my husband and I often use the time to pray, visualize our performance,
and encourage our fellow dancers. While stuck in traffic or waiting for a
meeting to start, we could mentally rehearse our plans for work and ask God for
His guidance (Proverbs 3:5-6) in
all that we say and do, to be good ambassadors for Him (2 Corinthians 5:20), to His glory.
Such examples are common and not particularly dramatic, but
a similar philosophy could be applied to a life-changing event such as
childbirth. While the mother-to-be waits for nine long months for natural labor
to begin, helpless to bring it on any sooner, she prepares her heart and her
home for the new arrival, nourishing her growing infant by eating and sleeping
properly and avoiding toxins or other harmful exposures.
But once she feels that first labor pain and her water
breaks, she drops everything and races to the hospital, where again she must
wait for the right time to begin actively pushing to deliver her child. The
pangs become sharper and closer together, but in the interval between
contractions, there is nothing to do but conserve energy, release stress, and
wait patiently for the next one.
Jesus and the apostle Paul compared this process of
childbirth to what the world will experience, and I believe is experiencing
now, as the End Times draw near (Matthew
24:8; Romans 8:22). God is not slothful to deliver on His
promise of the Rapture and Second Coming, but is waiting for His perfect timing
(2 Peter 3). The signs of the
times, such as earthquakes, wars, famine, epidemics, increasing evil, and false teachers (Mark 13; Matthew 24)
become more intense and frequent as the day approaches, much like labor pains (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
It reminds me that “hurry up and wait” applies to our
spiritual life as well. When we hear God speak to us through His Word (Psalm 119) or in other ways (1 Kings 19:12), we must be swift
to obey, for delayed obedience is the same as disobedience (Matthew 21:28-31). If we ask our
teenager to take out the trash, and he agrees to do it, but it’s still sitting
there the next evening and growing putrid, he has not been obedient.
If we have not yet trusted Christ as our Lord and Savior,
despite the Holy Spirit tugging at our heart to do so, we may procrastinate,
but at our own peril. Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2), and if we keep putting it off, our heart
and our conscience may eventually become seared (1 Timothy 4:2) to the point that we no longer hear God
calling.
Often born-again Christians, who have been saved by
trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven, also
indulge in this type of disobedience. We have clear direction from God, but we
rationalize our delay in following, using such euphemisms as “God is laying a
burden on my heart about this,” or “the Spirit is convicting me to do this,” or
“I’m still praying for peace about this matter.”
As the Nike commercial says, “Just do it!” Once God speaks,
we must not only listen, but hurry to obey, just as the shepherds ran to see
the infant Jesus (Luke 2:15-17),
or the Samaritan woman raced off to witness about the Messiah she had found, in
her haste leaving behind her water pot at the well (John 4).
But there are times that we agonize because God seems to be
silent, or because we are unable to determine what path He desires for us in a
specific matter, or because He has promised a good outcome that seems to be
endlessly delayed. We forget that His timing is always perfect (Ephesians 1:10), and that His
definition of “soon” can be one thousand years instead of one day (2 Peter 3:8), as we would prefer.
In circumstances like these, we must wait on the Lord (Psalm 27:14) to reveal His plan
for us (Jeremiah 29:11) in His
perfect way and with His perfect timing. Otherwise, we will act rashly with
irremediable consequences, as Sarah did. God had promised that she and her
husband Abraham would at long last have a child, ending her barrenness even
though she would be even older than she already was. Through that child of
promise, Abraham would become the father of a great nation (Israel) and through
his seed (Jesus Christ), all nations would be blessed (Genesis 18:10-18; 22:18; 26:4).
But nearly a quarter century passed since God made that
promise, and Sarah was still barren. So she took matters into her own hands, as
if God could not be trusted to deliver on His Word, and as if He needed her
“help.” She persuaded Abraham to have a child by her Egyptian handmaid Hagar,
and he too demonstrated his spiritual weakness by listening to his wife instead
of to God (Genesis 16).
Ishmael, the resulting child, brought strife and heartache
into his family’s life, particularly once Isaac, the child of promise, was
finally born (Genesis 21). But
the consequences of attempting to force God’s plan did not stop in their home,
for Ishmael gave rise to the Muslim nations that continue to be at war with
Israel to this very day.
We wait in lines at the supermarket; we wait for a birthday
or special occasion, and we must patiently wait on God’s timing in all areas of
our life, if we are to be good stewards (1
Corinthians 4:2), while we await His long-promised return. This waiting
is not passive or slothful, but is actively spent in prayer, studying His Word,
and doing His general will in areas where there is no question, such as
witnessing to others about Him (Matthew
28:18-20), praying for others, giving (Philippians
4:10-17) and tithing (Malachi
3), and serving Him in a local church (Hebrews 10:25).
As Christians, we will be blessed if we hurry up to obey
once God gives us a clear command, but wait to hear His voice before making any
radical moves or decisions. May we listen for His still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12) and be swift to
obey it!
© 2019 Laurie Collett
