Tag: waiting

Waiting

Garden tomb, Jerusalem by Mark Jones on Unsplash

I am always fascinated by the time of waiting we read about in John 19:38-42. In between Good Friday and Easter Sunday we are left with a day pregnant with anticipation. However, we don’t know a lot about what was happening – both to Jesus and the disciples. In John 2:18-21 Jesus had foretold that his body would be destroyed, but that he would raise it again. But Scripture doesn’t give us clear details of how that happened, and many commentators have argued over what was occurring during this time of waiting. 1 Peter 3:18–22 does indicate that Jesus’ body was put to death but that he was made alive in the Spirit.

Given a proper burial

Whatever was happening ‘behind the scenes’, Jesus’ body is taken away for burial. It wasn’t the disciples, or Jesus’ family, who went to Pilate and asked for the body. It was two ‘secret’ followers – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both members of the Jewish council. You may remember that Nicodemus had previously gone to Jesus in cover of nighttime to find out more about who he was. Both had been scared to associate with Jesus (although in John 7:51 Nicodemus did try to defend him in front of the other religious leaders). But they decided to risk their reputations after Jesus’ death in order to provide a proper burial for him. They gave him the care and prepared his body in the way Jewish custom dictated. Interestingly, they are the only characters mentioned here. Had grief and/or fear overtaken Jesus’ followers?

Sitting with the waiting

I believe it is important to own this time of waiting during Easter Saturday – and to be honest about our own feelings of bewilderment and grief about the waiting times we experience in our own lives.

Reflection

Too often we rush past Good Friday, looking forward with anticipation for Easter Sunday. Take some time today to sit with the uncertainty you have in your own life currently, offering it to God afresh as you talk with him about it honestly. Make space to receive from him too.

If you would like a further meditation on waiting, please click here.

Waiting well

Reflections based on Luke 2:21–40.

‘He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him’ (v25).

In Luke 2, we read about Mary and Joseph taking the baby Jesus to be presented to God at the Temple. Inside the Templeare two elderly servants of God – Simeon, a devout, righteous man, and Anna the prophetess, aged 84, who had been widowed after only seven years of marriage. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died. I wonder what his expectations had been before that day – I can’t imagine that he had envisaged a young baby born to a poor couple.

It was vital that Simeon heard the prompting of the Holy Spirit, both in leading him to the Temple on that particular day at that specific time, and also in recognising who Jesus truly was. How much time must he have spent in preparation for that day? In prayer, waiting on God, listening to His voice? Did he wait patiently? Did years pass uneventfully before God prompted him on that day? We are not given such details.

And, for Anna, the pain of losing her husband so early on in her marriage must have been excruciating. The details we are given of her really challenge me – right from that moment up until the age of 84, she spent each day worshipping, praying and fasting. Both were faithful in their waiting, and it took many years for them to reach this moment of joyful recognition of their Saviour.

Whatever age you are, God wants you to hear His voice. If He makes a promise to you a period of waiting may be involved, and the answer may not come in the way you expect.

Perhaps, like me, you’ve become quite tired of the lockdown: the endless monotony of days stuck at home, juggling work with ensuring the kids are doing their school work too. Evenings are then taken up with zoom meetings and FaceTime, as well as preparation for church meetings. Life actually seems to be more intense and busy than usual, with little space to process what is going on. The cry of my heart has been, in recent days, ‘How much longer, Lord?’ As well as, if I’m being totally honest, ‘I’ve had enough – I can’t do this anymore!’ For some of you, a similar cry will have gone up, but for very different reasons. Perhaps you have spent lockdown alone, and are desperate to see people in the flesh again. Or maybe you are a key worker, pouring yourself out daily for those around you, but tired to your bones and in need of proper, extended rest.

I know that God is moving in this intensely difficult time, and that the waiting, however painful, is not being wasted. There is so much we don’t understand, but many of us are re-evaluating, having been stripped of what usually brings us security. We don’t like what we are seeing all around us, our hearts are bleeding for the huge losses and resulting heartbreak, but God is at work even in the midst of this horrific crisis. There seems to be a new hunger for prayer – but, alongside that, some of us are having to try and find new ways of connecting with God as we don’t have the same opportunities that we used to. For others, a kind of stagnation has taken place, as we struggle to find the impetus for anything, let alone prayer.

Please know that, whatever stage you are at, you are not alone. There will be others feeling like you do. And God hasn’t left you, however it feels right now. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been at times for both Simeon and Anna to keep on going, keep on holding on to the promises God had whispered to their souls. And yet the joy of that day, when they finally saw Him, the Saviour of their souls!

My prayer for each of us is that we will remain faithful as the lockdown and the necessary waiting get harder, that we will hear God’s voice and notice the prompting of His Spirit. While our world seems to have changed almost beyond recognition, thank God that He remains the same yesterday, today and forever…

A prayer of hope

Reflections based on 1 Samuel 2:1–21.

What a prayer! Hannah has just left her son with Eli, giving him back to God as she promised she would. How hard that must have been, and yet she goes away with her heart overflowing with the goodness of God. She knows she can trust Him not only with her own future, but with her son’s very life. This prayer is full of hope for all of us. It offers truths about who God is and what He does: ‘those who stumbled are armed with strength’, ‘those who were hungry are hungry no more’, ‘he… lifts the needy from the ash heap’.

Later in the passage we see Hannah’s hope bearing fruit once more. Juxtaposed against the sin that Eli’s sons were committing, we are told that ‘Samuel was ministering before the Lord’ (v.18). Hannah hadn’t had to give him up entirely – she got to visit him each year, no doubt watching him grow up to be the mighty man of God he became. But of course she had to return home without him, which must have been painful every time. However, God graciously blessed her with five other children. She couldn’t have expected that! 

Can you remember a time when you have had to wait patiently for something but then have seen how God’s timing was not only perfect but He also provided unexpected blessing too? I have seen God’s faithfulness time and time again in my own life. It doesn’t mean there aren’t hardships and frustrations – and I can’t say I like the waiting either! But I am beginning to understand that if we hope in God, He will fulfil all He has promised. Maybe not in the way we expect, but He knows best.

For prayer and reflection: Thank you God that you are totally trustworthy. I thank you for this reminder of how you do us good. Help me to remember these truths always.

Slowing down during Advent

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I love Christmas. I love the preparations, the waiting, the build up of excitement, the putting up of decorations, the time spent devising menus. I love being involved in the music for carol services, watching our children’s excitement as they prepare for the nativity play. But, if I’m honest, I also struggle with the stress.

I see the start of Advent, and know that it’s a time of reflection – and I long to have the time and space to really enjoy it. However, I’m sad to say, the busyness of life so often crowds in as I rush to finish deadlines before the kids break up from school.

At this point in our calendar I’m focused most on getting our son’s birthday party celebrations organised, with the ever-growing list of jobs to do for Christmas weighing on my mind.

Even among all the activity, though, I can sense a longing in my soul. I am desperate to connect, to find the deeper meaning in this season. And I am desperate for our family’s experience of Advent to go beyond chocolate and calendars.

I am drawn to rediscover the meaning of waiting this Advent. Drawn to the character of Mary, and what this time meant for her. When we first meet her in the gospels she seems like a vulnerable young woman; betrothed to a respectable man in her neighbourhood. But one visit from an angel changes everything.

Mary’s response to that angel, after a few somewhat understandable questions, is simply ‘I am the Lord’s servant… May your words to me be fulfilled.’ (Luke 1:38) Incredible. I could never be that calm.

After visiting Elizabeth, Mary creates what is often referred to as the Magnificat, her song of praise (Luke 1:46-55). Through it she reveals she understands the way that God has blessed her for a special purpose. Mary recognises that God is a champion for the poor and oppressed too, and that God is fulfilling His promises to Abraham (and Israel) through what is to take place.

Whenever I look at those verses I am always taken aback. Granted, Mary has had a visitation from an angel, who has taken the time to explain things to her. Elizabeth has also recognised that the baby inside of Mary is the Lord so Mary has someone she can talk freely with. But still…

While Mary herself recognises she is highly favoured, she’s also in a time of waiting that is filled with so many unknowns. Will Joseph stand by her? If he does, will their society cast them out? And then, once the census was decreed, how will she cope with the long journey to Bethlehem and where will she give birth? (I’m sure that the idea of a stable never once entered her head!) What would her son be like? How would He make Himself known as the Messiah?

So many questions, yet the biblical account doesn’t reveal much about Mary’s state of mind. There seems to be a peace amongst the anticipation while the reality must have been messy, and deeply painful, at times. What surrounds this part of the Christmas story for me is stillness and patience; the atmosphere thick with pregnant hope.

While I pause for a moment to reflect and write this, I pray that I too can find that stillness and patience. That I too can look forward to the coming celebrations with hope, not allowing the stress and busyness that can so easily accompany this season to rob me of the precious gift behind it all.

This blog was originally published on Christian Today.