What are you waiting for? If you’re like the other 8 billion people on the face of this planet, there has probably been at least one time in your life you’ve wanted something pretty badly. So much so, that you’d almost be willing to do anything for it. …Kinda like this guy:
When I want something, it can consume my thinking. I obsess over it, let it turn over and over and over in my mind, pray about it, look at it from all directions, have a gazillion emotions about it, pray about it again, and then overthink all the mulling, turning, and feeling I let myself do and have over it. And I do all this even though not one ounce of that energy can make the something come to me any faster. And I console myself by saying that I’m waiting. I’m being a good follower of Jesus because I’m waiting. I’m trusting Jesus because I “prayed about it”.
But the reality is that I’m a terrible waiter. My waiting looks a whole lot like the guy in the comic. I take the good, healthy, alive, and growing things in front of me, and try to manipulate them into something that looks more like what I want or something that will get me what I want. This is the reality of my “waiting”; maybe yours, too.
But you know what this waiting is, really?
Idolatry.
It’s idolatry because our obsession over the thing has turned our eyes away from Christ. What I’m really waiting for is the situation to pass, or for the time when I don’t feel like this anymore, or for when I get what I want. …I’m not waiting for Christ to be made much of in my waiting. And the truth is, that kind of “waiting” isn’t very helpful or satisfying at all. I just end up worse than when I began!
The Psalmists often talk about waiting, but I realized something the other day: The waiting isn’t for the thing. It’s for the Lord or the Word Himself. Here’s one example:
The Psalmist isn’t waiting for the resolution to his “please for mercy” (verse 2) or his prayers regarding his “iniquities” (verse 3). Instead, he uses the trouble he’s in to turn his eyes to the Lord. When we choose to wait on the Lord rather than wait for the thing, we are taking our cares and casting them at His feet, trusting that He will do what needs to be done in His time–in a way that makes much of Himself, and sanctifies us so we look more like Christ. When we wait like this, we are using the circumstances we find ourselves in and using them as a means to worship and praise. …And as the old tune says, when we turn our eyes to Jesus instead of ourselves and the things of this world, they will grow dim in the light of His glory and grace. …And that is the only kind of waiting that is truly satisfying.
What you’ll find here is a collection of musings, thoughts, writings, and ramblings about things I’m reading, watching, and thinking about. It’s my goal to inspire, encourage, and instruct my fellow sisters in their walk with Jesus and their understanding of the Word.
- Erika Recommends: Best Books of 2021 - December 15, 2021
- Slow-Going in the Fast Lane - October 14, 2021
- A Taste You Can Feel In Your Cheeks - September 29, 2021
