“Wait!” is not a word most of us enjoy hearing. Particularly in the 21st Century, we have gotten used to “immediately”. We are very immature as a species and that appears to have been the norm for millennia. Like toddlers, we want what we want and we want it now. Abraham knows what God has promised – a son – but he readily goes along with Sarah’s plan to make that happen sooner rather than later. In the Kingdom of God, the end does not justify the means. So here’s the first lesson from these chapters: God’s Will, God’s Way.
In the Book of Exodus, a young Moses thinks he can protect God’s people when he kills an Egyptian slave driver who is attacking an Israelite. Instead, Moses has to run away from Egypt and herd sheep in the Midian wilderness for forty years until God calls him to return to Egypt and watch God work His will, His way. In the Book of Joshua, Achan learns that disobeying God’s instructions in regard to the devoted things (plunder) from the defeat of Jericho cost Israel the initial victory at Ai and leads to the death of Achan and his family. In First Samuel, Saul the king learns that lesson when he refuses to wait for the Prophet to come before offering a sacrifice and winds up losing both his crown and his life. The negative consequences of Abraham and Sarah trying to use another human being (Hagar, a slave who was not free to say no) rather than wait on God reverberate to this day in the conflicts in the Middle East.
God’s will God’s way is a truth that is continually repeated throughout the Bible and the entire history of the world. The fact is that waiting is one of God’s most powerful tools in forming us into the image of Christ.
In the New Testament we see Peter’s impatient attempts to keep Jesus from the cross stopped and rebuked by Jesus himself. God’s will is not accomplished by cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. God’s will is the way of the Cross. Even though Jesus had told his disciples repeatedly that He must be handed over to die on the Cross and rise on the third day, they do not have ears to hear it. Even after Jesus is risen and about to ascend into Heaven, the disciples ask one more time, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?” If we’re honest we probably would have asked the same question. But Jesus then tells them that their first responsibility is to wait – “And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Waiting is hard, but God’s will is impossible apart from God’s power. Waiting is not the same as doing nothing. In Psalm 127 we read, “Unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain.” So here’s the second lesson: All the promises of God are Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20).
We cannot make the mistake of cherry picking the promises of God, though. Some of the Bible’s promises are for Israel, some are for the church as a whole, but the most important one that applies to us is, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So how then are we supposed to
live between now and the Second Coming of Christ? The same way Judah waited in their Babylonian captivity. “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” The Book of Romans, chapters 12 through 14, begins with, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” (12:1) In addition, the Book of Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your whole heart, as to the Lord.”
I’ll give Mother Teresa the last word:
“Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”