The Power of Waiting

 

Jesus was with His disciples after the resurrection in the following scriptures:

Acts 4: And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father “which,” He said, “you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now---

Acts 8: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” New King James Version (bold by author)

            These disciples had a job to do, but Jesus knew that before they started this new endeavor, they needed to be empowered.

            It was 1987 and I was teaching. Believing it was time to sell my condo, I had been looking at other places to live. Though moving seemed to be the right decision, God had not given me His assurance that my thinking was correct. One day during spring break, while seeking His leading, God seemed to say, “Wait.” Was He telling me that moving was not the right thing to do? Why must I wait?

            About two months later, the first week that school was out, my place showed the ravages of end-of-the-school activities and fatigue. After cleaning the kitchen, the floors, as they always did, still looked dirty. Fed up, I decided I could put in new ones, but first, other things needed to be done. With changing out wallpaper, painting, and then putting in a new floor, the kitchen was in good shape, but the bathroom had to be refurbished. After that job everything looked considerably better. It had been a long and tiring two months, but the condo was ready for the next person who would live there

            It was in the midst of all of this refurbishing that God finally let me know that moving was not only the correct decision, but necessary for my future.

Waiting is not what we usually want to hear, but I believe there were three reasons that God gave me this command.

1. I had not realized how much needed to be done to prepare my place for selling or renting. By waiting until summer, I had more time to do what was necessary and could do a better job.

2. Jesus told the disciples to wait because the Holy Spirit would give them power—power to fulfill their calling. The Holy Spirit gives power in many ways. That morning when I felt fed up with the floors, God wasn’t on my mind. There was only the desire to improve the place with the knowledge that I was on my own—no one to help.  Except for some painting, there was no DIY in my background. The confidence to take on the job of changing out a floor, putting up wallpaper, and painting could only have come from the Holy Spirit. He not only showed me what I could do, but also led me every step of the way.

3. As always, only God knew the future. One year later at the beginning of the summer, I wrote a contract on a place where I was to live for 30 years. Not only did I find a new home, but I was also busy studying for a state exam to be taken later in the summer. Thankfully, all of the work on the condo had been completed the summer before and all I had to do was move.

Thought: The experience of waiting is more positive when seen in the light of the Lord using the time to empower us for a needed task.

 

Prayer for the Reader

            Oh Lord, help me to have faith in Your timing. If I have to WAIT, show me how to use that waiting period so that I will be ready and empowered for the task at hand. And Lord, when You are ready for me to move forward, don’t let anything stop me. In Jesus Name, Amen

            Note from the Author:  What does it look like when someone says, “God said to me?” There was no voice. Rather, when the word wait came to my mind that spring day, it was accompanied by a strong gut feeling that it was a command, not just another thought.

                                                                  


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