Waiting

In Chapter 6 of “Face to Face with God” by Bill Johnson he talks about the idea of waiting patiently. He says that sometimes people (not you, but other people) talk about waiting for God to move in a very passive sense. In the Bible, the majority of references to waiting means “writhing in pain, as in childbirth,” or “whirling in the air in dance.” Tom Petty knows his stuff. The waiting is the hardest part.

            When we truly are waiting on God to answer, it is not a passive, patient time. There is no peaceful, relaxing moment in childbirth and I imagine not much in dancing. Bill goes on to talk about the intense focus needed when we are waiting on God. No one would describe a woman in labor as “waiting” for the baby to be born. When I was in labor, I could not concentrate on anything else. In the later stages, I could not listen to music. Not even Tom Petty.

            What might it look like to be waiting on God? For me it is having a quiet moment in the day. A literally quiet moment when no one else is around. I don’t want to miss God speaking because I’m listening to Pandora or checking Facebook. It can mean crying, journaling, constant prayer or maybe even insomnia.  But I don’t think it means continuing on with life as normal.

            Bill goes on to describe (in the section “There’s More,” for those of you following along) David’s use of the word wait means “to lie in wait,” as if in ambush. Bill compares it to hunting deer: “If I want to hunt deer, I won’t set up an ambush on Wall Street in New York City or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. To set up an ambush with any hope of success, I must do so in areas that deer frequent. But many do not realize the same is true of waiting on God. There are many who need a miracle, but they won’t go across town to a church where miracles are common. We play a mental game of pride when we refuse to humble ourselves and go to lie in wait in the places that God frequents.”

            What if LiveOak became a place where God frequented? Where people waiting on God were finally answered? Where miracles happened and we comforted each other as we earnestly, truly wait for God to move?

Beth Kropf