During the Season of Easter, we wait. We wait 40 days until the day of Ascension, when Jesus blessed the disciples then ascended into heaven. Then we wait 10 more days until Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit came down on the 120 gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Waiting is never easy. It’s hard to wait. Waiting makes you think that the present moment isn’t what you want. It creates anxiety or dread about what is happening right now. There is a belief that this moment doesn’t matter. There is nothing of value in what is happening.
Waiting has always been spiritually valuable from God’s perspective. It’sas if God finds that humans cannot fully receive what they are waiting for withouta period of preparation. God has been doing this from the beginning. God didnot come down to deal with Adam and Eve the moment they sinned. He waited. Hecame in the cool of the day, the time He normally came. He allowed the time betweentheir sin and His coming to give them a little taste of the reality of what hadjust happened. They needed time to process before being able to understand Hispresence and direction in dealing with their sin. He told Abraham that he wouldbe a father of a great nation and then had him wait 25 years until he had theson promised from Sarah. He waited almost 400 years until he brought the descendentsof Abraham—the nation of Israel—out of Egypt to finally live in theland that He has promised to Abraham. Jesus waited 30 years until He fully revealedHimself as God’s son. Immediately after He was baptized, there was 40 moredays of waiting in the wilderness before His full ministry began. There are manymore biblical examples of waiting, but I think you are getting the picture.
In fact with God, sometimes waiting is the outcome. Exodus 14:14 says, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Following Jesus is just as much about waiting as it is about doing. We need to recognize the spiritual value of waiting. Waiting is the truest test of peace.
In the waiting of Eastertide up until Pentecost, the disciples were blessed with peace. From the moment they first laid eyes on the resurrected Christ, He pronounced the words Peace be with you! (John 20:19). Jesus wasn’t announcing that all their enemies were gone. (The disciples were locked up in the room, hiding from the ones who killed Jesus, thinking they might be next.) The peace Jesus spoke into them is a peace that is not based on circumstances. He very much meant for them and for us to experience total peace as we wait with Him for the day of His return.
Waiting in peace is great spiritual gain. You have to be a person of great faith to wait and enjoy the peace of the wait. Even when you don’t have what you most long for, you do have the promises of God that He will bring it to you. You wait in peace.
There is nothing more that your soul needs than peace. Embrace your time of waiting with great faith, and you will discover for yourself the peace that transcends understanding (Philippians 4:7).
