Are We There yet?

There is usually a fair amount of waiting involved in travelling, and every parent dreads the time when their kids ask that age-old question, “Are we there yet?”

Sitting in a car, at the airport, or in a traffic jam … the waiting can seem interminable, but it’s a lot worse when you’re in a wilderness. Some people think of metaphorical ‘valley’ times as being the same as a wilderness season, but I don’t think they are. To me, valleys are times when we face really tough, life-shaking situations that will make or break us, depending on what decisions we make and how we react or respond to the challenges we face. Metaphorical valleys are tough because of the massive challenges that are taking place, whereas in a wilderness season, there is usually not much happening at all.

Walking through a wilderness involves a lot of waiting.

There’s not much to do in the wilderness. Not much happens. Not many people around. Not much social interaction or things to distract you. Just lots of waiting and often a lot of ‘metaphorical pacing’!

Honestly, I’m not very good at waiting. I’m the type of person who, once I decide to do something, I want to do it NOW, and I’ll usually have a pretty good idea (I think) of what it should look like and how it should happen. Father has had to work with me so much on this, but He still has a lot more work to do; I’m  still learning how to wait well.

Have you heard the expression, “God opens doors that no-one can shut, and He shuts doors that no-one can open”.  I’ve found that to be true. However, taking this analogy a bit further, it’s also true that, while you’re waiting for said doors to open or shut, you’re generally standing in a hallway – and it’s not very nice in the hallway!

There’s usually not much furniture in hallways, no comfortable sofas to sit on and no refrigerators or TVs! You very quickly tire of looking at the same old pictures on the walls, and the tension of wondering which door is going to open next can feel unbearable after a while. It’s not fun and it’s not comfortable, but it is unfortunately an unavoidable part of life.

So, the next topic that we’re going to focus on in this Walking in Wilderness blog series is the topic of ‘waiting well’.

Ugh! Even the sound of it causes shivers to go down my spine! We live in such an instant world, and the new technology that is being developed every day gives us nearly everything we need at the mere touch of a button (or phone). We have instant purchases online; we want to start reading a book, so we order it on Kindle and start reading it within minutes of purchasing it. We have instant coffee, instant microwave meals, instant downloads of movies, and, if we don’t have the money to get what we instantly want, we can use credit cards to get it.

As convenient as these new developments are, the downside is that they have trained us not to wait for anything. We’ve lost the value and the discipline of waiting well. Having to wait for something makes it more precious because of the price that was paid in order to get it. It costs us patience and time, and when you eventually get what you were waiting for, it is valuable because that is what it represents: your time, your hopes, your energy – your life.

Those of you who are over 50 will probably remember what it was like as a child, when you really wanted a particular toy or book. In those days, you saved up for things you really wanted to buy. Pocket money was precious, and saving up for something special meant that you often went without something else. Instead of buying sweets, you saved your money to buy that thing you really wanted, because you knew what you were saving up for would be worth it – and it invariably was.

The Israelites waited a long, long time for what they really wanted – their own land, homes, their freedom, and a life as an independent nation under Yahweh. As we know, a journey that should have taken a few days took them forty years, so they knew what it looks like to wait for what you really want.

However, it is worth noting that that period of time (and everything that God did during that time) was so significant that, to this day, thousands of years later, Jews all over the world still celebrate the Passover, in honour of those years when their descendants lived in tents instead of in their own homes. What a beautiful tribute to what the Israelites went through. God honours us when we wait well.

So what is ‘waiting well’, and why is it important? Surely if we have to wait, then we just wait. Why do we have to do it well?

I’m glad you asked! Next week, we’ll look at the answers to those questions.

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Until next time ….

·       Do you consider yourself to be a patient person?  

·       Are you good at waiting?

·       What is your understanding of ‘waiting well’, and do you think you know how to wait well?

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