Two Kinds of Waiting

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

                                                                                                Psalm 27:14

A Confession

I hate waiting.

I know that’s not the kind of confession that makes for juicy gossip but it’s a confession that I don’t like to make. I like to think of myself as someone who is patient. After all, that’s one of the fruits of the Spirit right?

But to be patient means “to be long suffering.” Who wants to be long suffering? I don’t want to be suffering at all let alone suffering for a long time. I want relief from my suffering. I want to be saved from my suffering. And waiting is its own kind of suffering.

There are times when I don’t mind waiting so much. When I know that I’m waiting for something good I look forward to it with anticipation. If my wife tells me in the morning that she is planning on making a special meal for supper I don’t want to eat it for breakfast. I actually like to think about it during the day and anticipate how wonderful it’s going to be. Waiting makes it even better.

However, it doesn’t seem to work that way when I’m sick. When I have a cold or am stricken with the flu I know that I will gradually get healthy over time.  Thinking about being healthy and imagining the day when I won’t feel congested and tired only makes me more impatient to get over my illness.

The difference between these two types of waiting boils down to this: In the first example I am waiting for something that is a pure gift. My wife wants to make something special for me. If I refuse to wait and take the initiative to cook the meal myself I will ruin the gift. It just wouldn’t be the same as letting her do something nice for me.

In the example of waiting for my health to return I can actually take steps that will make it come sooner without ruining the end result. I can eat and drink in healthy ways and I can get extra rest instead of going full-speed through every day. In these ways I am an active participant in making the future that I eagerly wait for become a reality.

So What Am I Doing?

There are dozens of passages in the Bible that exhort us to “wait for the Lord.” What I want to know is which kind of waiting I am doing: The kind in which I simply look forward to the gift that is coming or the kind in which I take an active role in creating that hoped-for future?  

Throughout this week I want to explore the issues behind waiting. I think that some of them are directly related to the two ways of imagining heaven that I wrote about last week (Two Heavens: One Kingdom). I think some of the issues have to do with the way the predominant culture shapes us. Waiting also has to do with our desire to be in control and to take matters into our own hands. I imagine I will discover more issues as I write about them.

If there are issues related to waiting that you would like to see me address leave a comment or send an email to zukey.jones@gmail.com and put “waiting” in the subject line. I’ll see what I can do.