Like a Dog at the Window
I’d like to think I’m like this dog at the window, patiently watching and waiting. But our days have trained me toward profound impatience like no other time. Unlike this picture, I’m more likely to pace, fret, wonder, and worry, and question if what I so deeply desire will ever come into view. Who am I trying to kid, dogs know better how to wait and trust than me.
Today, we are conditioned to expect instant responses to most all of our desires, just ask Google if you doubt it. So when the chucklehead ahead of me on the parkway drives a skosh under the limit, I’m frosted. Or when the older person (that means older than my old head) slowly digs to find and then write a check and then find a pen in the line at Fred’s, I groan and quickly look around for another line. And I’ll sprint to not miss an opening in a revolving door!
Waiting…ugh! And it’s a short step from general impatience with life to feeling the same way when God seems to be taking his own sweet time coming through with what my heart desires.
But waiting seems to be a key tool God uses toward teaching (over and over) several worthwhile lessons in a believer’s life. Lessons like…
We are not the conductor but a 3rd-chair horn player
Nor are we in charge of timing
And outcomes are out of our control
Which brings a chance to, as a child, trust our Parent
Over and over the scriptures share stories of faithful folks hanging onto a promise that had been a long time coming. The story of Abraham and Sarah is just one of many examples.
Fairly early on in Genesis, he is promised to be the father of many nations, but year after year Abe and Sarah remained childless. The crib and chariot-seat gather dust in the corner of the tent and are finally given away. Any excitement and anticipation about being parents gets harder and harder to hold onto. Years, then decades pass and still no answer. Imagine their prayers and wistful talk in front of the fire at night of what might have been, and wondering if they really heard God clearly so long ago.
And when the news of a baby-to-come finally arrives the couple was dang old, so naturally the old man sat in disbelief and Sarah, out of sight in their tent, laughed out loud at the absurdity of two OGs diapering a promise. She was rewarded with having to name the kid Isaac, which means “laughter”, possibly both as a reminder of her tent-chuckle, but also the of the joy a finished promise delivers.
For what are you waiting on God?
How long have you earnestly prayed for what seems like a best outcome?
Do you know the fatigue of unrealized hopes and genuine needs?
I carry the same tired hopes as you, and just like everyone you bump into in life. If honest, most of us, at times, can sing with David in Psalm 13.
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
Listen to the hurt in that last sentence. David is hanging on, but is bone-tired. When you couple this frustrated honesty before God to the invitation of Jesus to ask, and keep on asking, seek and don’t stop seeking, and knock and knock and knock on God’s door, we are left waiting with no end in sight. What are we to make of those times?
We get a hint from David just a few psalms beyond his lament when he sings, at the end of #27 how he dealt with his having to wait.
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD while I am here in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD; be brave and courageous, and wait patiently for the LORD.
So there we have it. As simple as it is daunting.
While his waiting is still hard to handle, David’s conviction rests on first relinquishing control to what he is waiting for. He states his confidence in God and his plan for his days. It’s like driving a stake in the ground deep enough to hang onto to face the strongest headwinds. Think of what you are waiting for and try his words on for size. State your confidence in the goodness of God while letting go of the timing of an answer.
His confidence looks to God’s goodness and not his own imagined outcome. There is power in settling one’s mind on the truth that God’s nature is bent toward goodness. Our situation may not look good at all from our perspective, but God is trustworthy and will never toy with his children. If his nature is good, we need to practice slipping our will under his and trusting in his outcomes, not our imaginations of what is good.
Then David, like Freddie Freeman in game 1 of the World Series, squares his feet to stand firm in the face of unanswered prayers and determines to trust in God’s timing.
Freeman, the Dodger, hobbled by injury, insisted on taking his turn to hit. Bottom of the 10th, two outs, bases loaded, trailing the Yankees, he stroked a grand slam home run on the first pitch to win the game. Freddie trusted in the training of thousands of swipes at pitches, that might just overcome his limiting injuries.
You have been trained through thousands of times when small agreements with God have built up a reserve of bravery and courage in what he can do. In the waiting times, withdraw some of those resources to hang onto trust. Waiting will call on you to be brave in the face of your challenges, and to exhibit courage when you may want to run.
It takes bravery and courage to go on faithfully waiting when God is on mute, but that is just what we are called to do. So, courageously embrace your hurt and trust in the goodness of God for just this next day, never doubting that he is at work, always. Like the Psalm says, Wait for the LORD; be brave and courageous, and wait patiently for the LORD.
John Wayne said it well, "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” Let’s ride, together.
Music, sure, but first…
Jokes, bad ones, for the week…
When the store manager returned from lunch, he noticed his clerk's hand was bandaged, but before he could ask about the bandage, the clerk had some very good news for him.
"Guess what, sir?" the clerk said. "I finally sold that terrible, ugly suit we've had so long!"
"Do you mean that repulsive pink-and-blue double-breasted thing?!" the manager asked.
"That's the one!"
"That's great!" the manager cried, "I thought we'd never get rid of that monstrosity! That had to be the ugliest suit we've ever had! But tell me, why is your hand bandaged?"
"Oh," the clerk replied, "after I sold the guy that suit, his seeing-eye dog bit me."
*********************
Janice, my sister, had been pestering her husband, a carpenter, for more than a decade to build a screen door for the kitchen.
One day, to her delight, he built and installed one in less than two hours. It was both practical and pretty.
She glanced towards the front door and wistfully remarked that one would look good there, as well.
"Are you kidding?" he gasped. "You can't just whip these things up, you know. It takes ten years to build a door like this."