Waiting Room
By Grant Gaines
Whether it is in a hospital, an airport, or a business meeting, we all have at one time or another found ourselves in the most dreaded place on the earth-the waiting room. The waiting room is where dreams go to die as even the most optimistic person sees their smile quickly dissolve as the disappointment builds and the hour glass’s sand runs thin. Nobody wants to be in a waiting room because waiting is no fun.
We go to the hospital, the airport, or a business meeting to do a certain activity, not to wait. Waiting is no fun; it seems to be a waste of time. And yet, sometimes waiting is exactly what God wants us to do. We often think of God’s will for our lives as an action-packed, fast-paced assignment that we need to put on and lace up our running shoes for. But as you study the Scriptures it becomes apparent that sometimes God’s will for our lives is simply to wait. That was certainly the case for the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 17.
After confronting the king of Israel for his wicked practices, 1 Kings 17:2-4 (NIV) reads, “Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: ‘Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.'”
It is easy for us to just keep on reading the rest of this passage and glaze over an enlightening statement that is hidden in 1 Kings 17:7-9 (NIV) which says, “Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.'”
Did you catch how long Elijah was at the Kerith Ravine? While we don’t know the exact number of days he was in the Ravine, we do know from 1 Kings 17:7 that it was long enough for an entire brook of water to dry up before God gave Elijah his next set of instructions. Translation: that’s a long time! Day after day Elijah must have been pacing around the brook wondering what God wanted him to do there. He must have had his bags packed, his shoes tied tight, and his ears open for the next directions God was about to give him. But Elijah had to wait for an entire body of water to dry up before that long-awaited word finally came to him.
The beginning of the apostle Paul’s story is fairly similar to Elijah’s. You will remember that Paul was confronted, converted, and the conforming process into the likeness of Jesus began while on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. You are also probably fairly aware that Paul is the most prominent author of the New Testament by penning 13 of its 27 books. But a small section of Scripture in Galatians 1 reveals that Paul spent a considerable amount of time in the waiting room before the apostle Paul became “the” apostle Paul as we know him today.
“But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days,” Galatians 1:15-18 (NIV).
Three whole years dragged by before Paul finally started doing what God originally set him apart to do. That’s a long time!
Do you feel like you’re waiting for God right now? If that is the case, you might be exactly in the center of His will. Maybe God’s will for you right now is not to conquer the business world, find the cure for cancer, or lead massive crusades, but rather to wait. This time of waiting is not always fun because we never know when our “brook is going to dry” and God is going to give us the next step of his plan. But we must patiently trust God in this time of waiting and not get so anxious that we run out and try to do something in our own strength rather than waiting for God to give us directions and reveal the next step of his plan for us.
Waiting is never fun, but if the goal of our faith is to become more like Christ, then waiting is often exactly what God wants us to do. After all, didn’t Jesus have to wait 30 years before beginning His ministry (Luke 3:23)?
“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”
-Psalms 27:14 (NIV)
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
