No one wants to be —

Moses watching sheep for forty years in the wilderness

Jacob working 14+ years for his uncle

Abraham in all the years not recorded in Scripture (and there were quite a few!)

Paul in the desert

BUT —

Moses at the burning bush, parting the Red Sea, on the mountain with God — Absolutely.

Jacob dreaming angels — Okay.

Abraham seeing God’s promises fulfilled time and time again — We would rejoice.

Paul preaching with the power of the Holy Spirit and seeing multitudes saved — Yes!

——————

There is something soul-searing about Moses, an intelligent and cultured man, “wasting” forty years of his life watching stupid, smelly sheep in the forsaken wilderness. Forty years! It’s a long time. And it staggers the imagination to conceive the number of days and years Abraham spent wandering (at God’s command, but still wandering).

These are the decidedly un-cool, without glamour, not-worth-writing-about moments (weeks, months, years . . .).  It’s easy to assume that because the Bible tucks these moments away into a few incidental verses that they are unimportant, but to do so is to ignore the that fact that these times often represent a substantial chunk of lifetime.  (For Moses, his time in the wilderness was a third of his entire time on earth.)

We read our Bibles looking for glamour (not on purpose, it’s just more interesting narrative material):  Peter at Pentecost, Paul on Mar’s Hill (or almost anywhere else), Elijah at Mount Carmel, Samson (a jerk, but . . .) pulling down the temple, David slaying Goliath, etc.  We miss the myriad “little people” and “quiet moments.” The many, many women without whom the work of the apostles would have been impossible.  The Aquilas and Priscillas.  The apostles who “disappear” from view, but who were doubtless working as hard as any Peter, Paul, or John. David’s time (and there was lots) spent in caves or in wildernesses waiting for the next attack.  Elijah’s time at the brook and with the widow waiting for God to determine it was time for the drought to end. So many people who never had “spotlight” ministries or “showcase” moments of super-power. So much time spent away from the “limelight.” And these “little people” in these “quiet moments” had nothing to do but plod along in obedience and faith waiting for God to act. And let’s face it: Obedience is HARD.  Faith is HARD.  Neither is glamorous. Add a little conflict (which the Bible promises will be our constant companion) and life can look downright dismal.

The issue seems to be that in narrative waiting is generally compressed into a very few words. In the Psalms we have some narratives of waiting (and probably in the prophets, especially the Minor Prophets, but who reads those?  Just kidding.  Sort of . . .).  But sometimes we miss the waiting in the Psalms. We spend too much time trying to force the Psalms to be happy-happy praise and comfort and often overlook the fact that many Psalms are anything but comfortable.  They are full of anguish and longing — of waiting for God.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Psa. 27:13-14

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Psa. 37:5-7

I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. Psa. 69:3

(This from a simple word search for “wait” ignoring other terms like longing, hope, and know.)  So many commands and encouragements for the soul to “wait” make it seem like maybe waiting is both challenging and important. The simple fact is that much of our Christian lives will be spent in faith

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Heb. 11:1

and obedience (the active, cheerful kind — at least on good days)

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 1John 5:2-3

waiting for God to work in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psa. 46:10

It isn’t glamorous.  It certainly isn’t fun.  But God teaches things in the wilderness that he cannot teach (or maybe, more accurately, we cannot learn) on the mountaintops. To all my waiting friends, and to my own soul, maybe we can encourage each other to be still in the waiting, to wait in hope, to be confident in God’s ability to work all things after the council of His own will in his own time.  And when the waiting is over maybe we will all be ready for our own burning bush (and another forty years of wandering with griping, faithless Israelites — on second thought, maybe the waiting isn’t so bad).