Waiting

If you say the words Mumford and Sons to me, and several other people right now, the first thing that pops into my head is the chorus “And I will wait, I will wait for you,” from the song “I Will Wait”.

I love this song, not just because of the tune, the lyrics, or the call to wait on God, but more than that because it taught me a valuable lesson. The lesson isn’t just for me but I believe that it is a lesson, or a reminder for you veterans out there, in finding Joy in times of waiting.

Let me be very real for just a second, I am not, am not, a very patient man. Whether it comes from living in a society that is always on the go, being apart of a generation that grew up with the emerging and changing technologies, or due to the fact that I’m human and want to control every situation to my will, I am not patient. I do not like waiting.

I have the world’s knowledge database at my fingure tips, I use the phrase, “why are we speculating just google it”. If I want to contact a friend it requires about 30 seconds to shoot a text and if they have their phone on them a mere 30 seconds for a response. I live in a decade, and am a part of a generation that refuses to accept delay, I want it, I want it now. Anything longer than our expectations drives us crazy.

What I find myself and several of my friends and peers doing is taking this approach to God. “Okay, God, Father, Dad, here is what I want, but I really need it, and I really need it now. So, if you could do that for me, that would be pretty sweet.” We look to God, and as my pastor Chad said in a sermon earlier this year we treat him like a microwave God. 4 minutes, sounds good to me, any longer and woah…I just don’t know what I will do.

The problem is that when we don’t here the ding from the microwave, or we get to the place and we don’t receive what we wanted, we end up upset and angry. More than that when we hear from others, Oh just be patient, you tend to look for the closest thing to throw at them.

Waiting on God can be very hard, and depending on how desperately we want something, because we are looking inward not upward, we end up wallowing in pity, depression, anger, resentment, bitterness, and fear. We let those things resonate in our hearts, and slowly watch our relationship with Christ Fade. And even if we rebuke those things, we can still find ourselves asking, and then begging, and then hurting. I believe that this is because our hearts are still in a position of selfish want.

Maybe we start to focus on God, with the idea that the means (Studying more, Praying More, Worshipping More) will justify the end (getting what we want), right? Well, maybe. However, I think that when God is asking us to wait its for a greater reason than our little, frail, susceptible, flawed minds can comprehend. Yet, we still find ourselves hurting.

The chorus in “I will wait” just makes me want to jump around, which I did. The 15^th time I heard the song, I played it through a set of speakers in my bedroom, and as the chorus played I belted out the chorus as loud as I could and I danced like a fool, jumping up and down (on a bum leg) and diving into my mattress. I was loving that moment. I was loving God in that moment. I was smiling and I was saying, “God, I will wait.”

I that it is in times of waiting, we are given the perfect opportunnity to find joy. We are given the perfect opportunnity to look up, and seek God’s face, to know him more. It isn’t that when we find this Joy that we will get what we want, which so many of us believe; It is that when we find joy, the jump around, dance like a fool, loving the moment, sing at the top of our lungs, enjoying great fellowship, making new friends, trying new things, delighting in time spent in the Word, and we find that Joy,“I Will Wait” doesn’t feel like a dangerous thing to say, or a curse art all. The time will pass, and when we hit that moment, it will feel like no time at all.

It is when we begruge the time we spend waiting, wallowing in our woes, thinking about what’s missing, that waiting is hard. When you are doing something you love, having a conversation that brings joy into your heart, Laughing with your friends, loving the moment, time flies. We can be extrememly busy and yet time can drag because we are not enjoying it. When we take a moment to find joy in our situation, it isn’t that we will receive what we want right then, time will pass, and we won’t be staring at the clock.

So, how do we find Joy in those times of waiting. Well, I believe we all need to figure out what we need to do in those periods to enjoy life, ourselves, our friendships and our God. For me, I have been seeking His Face more, but more than that spending time with Him, learning to Love Him more, and allowing him to change me. I have been trying to spend time in fellowship with others, and I serve in a ministry that allows me to use my gifts and talents, which brings me a joy in itself. I have found joy in this time waiting.

It is still hard to wait for those desires to come to fruition, but as each day passes, and I look up, and then to the moment to find that joy, the day passes and it turns out great.

Waiting, doesn’t have to be all that bad. If it rains, who says you can’t dance in it. If it’s dry and sunny, and hot, and you feel like you’re in a desert who says you can’t lay down and sun-tan. If it is blizzarding who says you can’t flop down and make a snow angel, or build a snowman. Enjoy the moment, enjoy a God who loves you and enjoy what you have right now. Then maybe, when you do reach that moment you desired, wanted, and looked forward to for so long, it won’t feel like you waited that long after all.