The Waiting Room

“I hate waiting…”

A favorite line from a favorite movie (The Princess Bride), when Inigo, at the top of Cliffs of Insanity, waits for the man in black to reach the summit so he can try to defeat him in a sword fight.

I can relate. I’m all for action – but I hate waiting.

God, on the other hand, is quite content to put a lag time between promise and fulfillment. He has an entirely different view of time and eternity. And He is determined that we learn faith and patience, especially in a posture of – waiting.

I hate waiting.

Reading in recent days about the story of Abraham and Sarah as they wait to have a son named Isaac (Genesis chapters 12-21), I am reminded about how long we, at times, must wait for the fulfillment. Abe and his wife were old; she was barren and long past the years of even being able to conceive. God promised that Abraham would have as many descendants as the countless stars in the skies, yet the years kept stretching on. Human impossibility awoke each morning to another day of unfulfilled promise. Where was this Isaac, to be (miraculously) born to aged Sarah??

Finally, in chapter 18, when Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared to him and got specific about the promise. “I will return to you at this time next year, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” The years of waiting would come to an end. And so it occurred, exactly on the timetable God had in mind.

I have, deep within, various huge life-mission desires that have brewed in my soul for decades. I can picture them, and can almost fast-forward to a time of joy and meaning in fulfilling some things that I have (seemingly forever) felt that I was meant to do. And while I’m taking steps to arrive at those destinations – I hate waiting. “We are men of action,” said Westley in the above-referenced movie. And life is a curious mix of action and initiative, curiously joined to waiting patiently for the right time and the right door to open.

I hate waiting. And in this always-on, instant fulfillment digital generation, I believe that patient waiting will become even more of a lost art. The last thing we are used to enduring is a time lag.

God, however, doesn’t change. The time between promise and fulfillment is of His design, and no application of Google and broadband and mobile devices will hasten it.

Maybe someday, I’ll love waiting. Or, at least, not hate it. Abraham had the long-promised son when he was 100. Maybe I still have a few years to wait.

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See…Hear…Know

While reading through the book of Genesis, I once again came across the story of Hagar, Sarai’s maid (chapter 16), who bore a son to Abram when it seemed hopeless that Sarai would ever conceive on her own.

And there I found some of the most powerful perspectives on prayer ever.

At one point, before the child’s birth, Hagar runs away from the household after being harshly treated by the (now jealous) Sarai. There, in the wilderness, God met her, and made rich promises about her soon-to-be-born son. While the child of the promise would yet be conceived directly via the (now barren) womb of Sarai, Hagar’s child was not to be neglected.

It turns out that God was not off on some celestial errand during this family drama, and unaware of the circumstances, but as He always is, God was intimately involved in every detail – past, present, and future.

She was to name the boy Ishmael, which in Hebrew, means God hears. She called God Elroi, which means God sees. And, she marveled that God would appear to her and she would remain alive. You might call that, in much bigger words, God graciously condescends.

Amazingly, God not only saw the present, but he also told Hagar about Ishmael’s future. Because, you know, He’s God. He sees past, present, and future without our mortal and finite limits. Our NOW is this moment, today. God’s NOW is eternal.

Often, when we pray, we feel a nagging sense of uncertainty. Does God know what I’m going through? Does He even care? Will He intervene? Do the dark mists of the future contain awful and unexpected surprises that will derail everything?

There are great mysteries in the immensity of God, and intimidating aspects to a future we cannot control ourselves. Yet, like Hagar, we need to act in faith.

God hears. God sees. God cares. And He’s going to do what is best, including dispensing blessing to the undeserving.

Ishmael. Elroi. That’s enough.

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Not Very Promising

In the first book of the Bible (Genesis) chapter 11, we have an extensive genealogy leading up to the famous figure of the man Abram (later re-named Abraham).

Abraham was destined to be the father of many nations. He would be the paragon of faith, the progenitor of a line that would bring revelation and blessing to the entire world.

However – it wasn’t a promising start.

“The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai…and Sarai was barren; she had no child.” (Genesis 11:29-30).

For those keeping score, it is awfully difficult to become the father of anything when you cannot have children.

This condition went on for decades, as Abram followed God’s leading and believed His promises, despite the evident lack of fulfillment.

If you read on, you discover how God miraculously brings about the birth of Isaac, and the fascinating history of the patriarchs continues on from there. Abraham does indeed become the father of nations. God does indeed fulfill His promises, and, as is His wont, does so in such a way that no-one can claim it was mere human instrumentality.

That’s history now, but it still informs the present. It speaks to you and me.

We all find ourselves in not-very-promising conditions. If we don’t experience literal barrenness of the womb, we can point to a host of other barren and broken aspects of our lives and seriously wonder, “Can God make anything out of this mess?”

God allows inauspicious beginnings in order to show His glory. Whether it’s an enslaved nation in Egypt, a shepherd boy with a sling, a poor virgin in a dusty town named Bethlehem, or a demon-possessed madman raving among the tombs, God shows His power when all we have to offer is a broken, barren (even dead) – starting point.

I’m thinking of friends with broken families, wondering what marvelous futures the children may have. I’m thinking of godly people who live obscure lives of faithfulness, who may, with one unplanned act of faithfulness, set in motion a nation-altering chain of events.

I wonder about my own grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, if we are allowed the privilege. Could it be that the biggest impact of my life will be, in God’s inscrutable plan, 95 years downstream, through a descendant I never meet, when I am long gone and forgotten? Can God take my not-very-promising here and now and make something far greater than anyone can imagine?

Every chapter and book of the Bible says He can. This seems to be His modus operandi, in fact! What I see around and in me may not look very promising, but that is utterly overshadowed by a promise-making and promise-keeping God!

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