Wait, Part 2
Wait, Part 2
“Wait for the gift my Father promised.”
—Acts 1:4
After the resurrection, I was wondering what the disciples must have been feeling before Christ appeared to each of them. Of course, they had been discouraged, feeling rather hopeless when Christ was crucified. It seemed the end of a dream. There was no way they could fully comprehend what Jesus had taught them and told them to expect. But, then He appeared to several of them and the sparks of hope were fanned into flames. Now, Lord, will you establish your kingdom? Give us our orders, Lord. What's next? Jesus' response didn't do much to support their enthusiasm. Wait. What? Wait.
Jeanette Bakke, in her book Holy Invitations5, cites several factors that can influence discernment. One that I find particularly challenging is having the "willingness to accept an answer of wait." She writes: "It is difficult to wait for God and difficult to wait with integrity for our own process of development. We may be tempted to settle for what is at hand or force an alternative rather than wait when life as we have known it begins to unravel or we are in transition."
When we fail to wait for the Lord, when we get too far ahead of Him, we are doomed to failure. Bakke warns us of thinking that we have enough of an idea of what God is trying to accomplish and taking over as opposed to continuing to follow the Holy Spirit's lead. She states, "Unless we ask God to help us set priorities, order our lives, and guide us moment by moment, how can we hope for our actions to grow from God's intentions rather than from seemingly good ideas of our own?"
We need to remember that He who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it. There may be times when it seems God is taking a break, when He seems to have relaxed and we are in danger of missing a deadline, when it appears that our plans are about to fail, when what we had hoped for isn't going to happen, but God is never too late, He is always on time.
In The Dark Night of the Soul6 by John of the Cross, the author refers to those times when what God is doing is obscured from our sight (Latin for “dark” is obscura). If God allowed us to know what He was doing we would either try to control the process or refuse to go along with what God has in mind.
We must learn to trust God and to be faithful with what He has given us to do, all the while believing that He is answering our prayers and that what we may be going through is a part of His plan. Eventually, it may be revealed and as the hymn goes, “We will understand it better by and by.”
"Wait for the gift my Father promised," Jesus told them. What was that gift, none other than the power of the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit which enabled Christ to perform miracles that raised Christ from the dead that empowered the disciples to build the church, and works in you and me today. We must wait until that Spirit leads us. Trust that God has a plan, one that we need to follow.
One reason we fail to trust God is that we find it hard to accept His way of doing things. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:29).” If you find yourself feeling frustrated and discouraged it may be because you have stepped out of the will of God and you are trying to do things on your own. The yoke was made for two to carry, but the majority of the work is laid upon our Savior. It is not meant for us to struggle unnecessarily.
If you find that your will appears contrary to what the Lord has in mind, take time to reflect upon what is behind your unwillingness to accept God’s plan. In therapy, we often suggest the need to let something die that appears to stand in the way of our hopes and plans for the future. Paul, too, spoke of “putting to death” anything of an earthly nature and putting on the new nature (Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5).
Prayerfully reflect upon these two passages and ask God to reveal anything that you need to let die or need to put to death that stands in the way of His perfect will for you.
