Waiting. As ingrained as it is in the gospel message, I’m surprised waiting didn’t make the cut for a Matthew 5 beatitude. It would have had a nice, beatitude-esque cadence. You can hear it easily: Blessed are those who wait. Think about it: Israel had to wait on the cloud/pillar of fire to move before they moved; Saul was instructed to wait, without a reason, for Samuel to arrive before moving forward with his anointing; Isaiah tells us we are strengthened if we wait on the Lord; Jesus instructed His disciples to wait on the arrival of Holy Spirit before they do anything.
Waiting is a feature, a virtue, or as I shared in a blog post this summer, waiting is on the level of spiritual disciplines. So as a mental exercise, I asked why waiting was not singled out for special recognition as a beatitude. Here’s what my mental exercise concluded: throughout the beatitudes, waiting was actually given a level of unseen prominence. After further review, you see that waiting is an integral part of every beatitude. The pay offs for living out of the humble side of the heart are not immediate. They are inherited, they are waiting on us in heaven, they are bestowed at some future point in time. Waiting is built in to how we live the gospel life.
And here we are in the Season of Advent, waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus while we wait on the second coming of the Lord. It’s an entire season dedicated to…waiting. While the season of advent is not a biblical prescription, it is one of the oldest church traditions with the earliest mentions of the tradition happening as early as 380 AD at the Council of Saragossa. It is very noble to commemorate this season. But here’s a suggestion: let’s not just commemorate. Let’s actually lean into the DNA of spiritual waiting and let the anticipation of Jesus’ return actually affect our daily lives. It’s easy for the waiting of the coming of the Lord to become nonpalpable and intangible. It’s an event that seems to be something we know about on paper but that we’ll never experience.
We know what waiting feels like, whether positive (counting the days until Christmas) or negative (an airline delay). Waiting is all around us. You could probably list 10 things off the top of your head, without pausing, that you or close friends are waiting on.
Thankfully, we do have a biblical example of someone who allowed the waiting of Jesus to affect daily life. I’m reminded of the waiting of the “righteous and devout” Simeon who had been waiting on the “consolation of Israel” through the coming of the Messiah. You can hear in Luke 2:22-32 the satisfaction of his anticipation fulfilled as he held the child Messiah in his arms. His waiting had been tangible and was very likely a source of motivation for his obedience and devotion. Yes, a revelation from the Holy Spirit that you would see the Christ before you died would contribute to the daily practicality. But we have loads of promises that are as equally inspired: promises in God’s Word of Jesus’ return.
I’ve found a common theme in my personal study and reading on the discipline of waiting: waiting is rock-solid evidence that I am not in control. How I treat waiting is a direct reflection of whether I get that, a reflection of whether I’m going to trust God in the circumstances or not. I’m not expecting myself to react perfectly to every waiting situation, but I do hope that I will see, sooner rather than later, that each situation is an opportunity to exercise the muscles of trust and patience that will lead to a healthier, more vibrant walk with God. And, in beatitude-speak, I will be blessed.
Please enjoy this free one-page InWord devotional, “Wait For It,” a Scripture experience in the spiritual discipline of waiting: view/download devotional.
Thank you!
Barry Shafer
Founder/Director, InWord Resources