THE CHALLENGE OF WAITING

Waiting is not the easiest thing in the world to do. A number of years ago, Gerald Johnson, historian and writer, played the flute in the Baltimore Orchestra. He remarked that in a certain composition of Haydn’s, the flute player is supposed to sit quietly for seventy-four measures and then come in exactly on the upbeat of the seventy-fifth. His observation was that a composer who expects a person to do that is asking for an individual with rare and inestimable qualities.

As difficult as it might be, the Lord demands people with that ability. “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience...wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ...For through the spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness.”

The beat goes on. “Wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come...so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him...Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord...keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Such admonitions are but a sample of the multiplied exhortations urging Christians to wait. The duty is clear, but Fanny J. Crosby challenges us with a haunting question in the chorus of one of her songs: O can we way we are ready, brother? Ready for the soul’s bright home? Say, will He find you and me still watching? Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come? 

John Gipson