Waiting...waiting....waiting...for...????

~Tracy Frederick

The phrases go something like this: “let go and let God,” or “sit back and watch what God will do,” or “I can’t wait to discover what God is going to do with my life.” It seems to be the popular thing to say these days. Now, please don’t misunderstand, I realize that all of these phrases are asking people to put their faith in God. I get it. However, it seems that these phrases can also encourage our, well, yeah, complacency, or…shall I say it? yep…laziness. That is, we can trick ourselves into thinking that we should just sit back…wait…and wait….. and let God do the work. So, since I have heard this phrase repeated more and more, I started searching the scriptures. I look into the word, and I just don’t get it. I see those that followed God were an active people. They were always doing something, always going somewhere; never just…well, sitting and…waiting. So, when I considered the “wait and see method” I thought about some of those great “heroes” of the Bible that are referenced as great faithful followers: Noah. He was told to BUILD the ark (Genesis 6). It took him a hundred years without an electric saw, without a drill press and without a saw mill, and he built; Abraham was told to GO to a land, walking the entire way probably through dust and such, and then it was years before he had a son, and never saw the promise fulfilled, and he WALKED (Gen 12); Moses was told to GO back to Egypt, then LEAD the people WALKING through the dessert and had to put up with the whining, but he walked (Ex 3); Elijah was told to GO preach to an evil King and preach to a people who hated him and were planning his murder, and he WENT (I Kings 17); Esther was an orphan and was given to a king as a wife and was told to GO to the king. She should have been killed, but she WENT. The apostles walked with our Lord; He told them to GO, walk, talk and teach, even though they would be hated, have death warrants against them, and they WENT. But, we cannot neglect the best example of all, can we? Jesus was comfortable on His throne, and even though He knew it meant death, even though He knew we would humiliate Him, even though He knew we would hate Him, He WENT. I realize there are plenty of Old Testament scriptures that admonish us to “wait upon the Lord” (Ps 27:34, 37:9, 37:34, Is 8:17, Is 30:18,  Zeph 3:8, etc.), but if we read the accounts accurately, the waiting is a subjection for the salvation of the Lord. Even in the popular Isaiah 40:31, the waiting is to renew strength as an encouragement that God is mighty and our Savior will be victorious. It is a call for encouragement while they waited through persecution for the Savior. We have the Savior. So, this “wait and see” idea has puzzled me. So, if our habit is to wait….and wait….and see….. while we “wait and see,” God has given us air to breath, food to nourish our bodies, legs to walk, hands to reach out to others, and the word to teach.…I guess I’m just not sure what  are we waiting for.