Have you ever had to wait for a REALLY long time? Recently, we needed to renew our childrens’
passports. Since the government requires
both parents to appear in person with the children to apply for (or renew) a
passport, it was tough to find time for an appointment during the week, and
Saturday appointments are few and far between.
So, when we heard that there was a passport fair happening on a recent
Saturday, we decided that would be the perfect opportunity to get the passports
renewed. We called the post office, and
they said to expect a short wait (worst case scenario being an hour). So, we headed out early on Saturday morning
and arrived at the post office to find a line that wound all the way around the
building. But, we figured that we might
as well wait. How bad could it be?
It turns out that this was the biggest turn out the post
office had ever seen for a passport fair – and on top of that, several
employees had called in sick. It was the
perfect storm! The postmaster
periodically came out to warn us that the wait might be longer than expected,
but ever the optimists, we kept thinking that surely it couldn’t be that
bad. So, we waited… and waited… and
waited… and finally at some point, when we were getting really tired of
waiting, we got to the point where we had invested so much time standing in
that line that it seemed foolish to leave before we took care of business. So, we waited some more… and waited… and
waited… We arrived at the post office
around 9:30 that morning. We finally
finished processing the passports around 3:30 that afternoon. We were in line not one – not two – but six
hours! That may be the longest I’ve ever
waited in line for something. It was a
long day. But, in the end, we walked
away having accomplished what we set out to do.
While it was hard to stand there and wait all that time, we
could physically see the team processing the passports. While we were uncertain about the length of
time we would be stuck in that line, we were completely confident that if we
stood there long enough, we would get the passports processed.
But, what if we had gotten there and found an empty parking
lot with a sign that said, “Wait here for your passport”? What if we had stood there in that empty
parking lot for an hour without any sign of the postmaster? What if no one showed up in the parking lot
after two hours? I’m not so sure that we
would have continued to wait. We
probably would have begun to question whether we were at the right place – or
wonder if we had made the right decision in coming to the passport fair. We probably would have pulled out our phones
and double-checked the web site to make sure that we were in the right
place. We might have called the phone
number to see if the event had been cancelled.
I’m not sure that we would have stayed.
Sometimes it feels that way when we are waiting on God’s
promises. We read His word and we pray
and we ask and we hear Him speak to our spirit, and we hear His promise to
us. At first, we are sure that we heard
His voice. We wait patiently and
expectantly for His promise to come to pass.
Then days pass and weeks pass without seeing any evidence of the promise
being fulfilled. And, we start to wonder
whether we really heard His voice. We go
back and flip through the pages of our Bible trying to reassure ourselves of
God’s faithfulness. We rally a bit and
continue to wait. Then weeks turn into
months and months turn into years – and we are still waiting – and watching –
and wondering. Where is the
promise? When will it happen? Has God forgotten? Did we miss it altogether? Why hasn’t it happened?
Most of the time, we don’t get the answers to those
questions. But, sometimes we do. Daniel did.
Daniel had received a vision from God and had prayed and asked God to
help him understand what it meant. Three
weeks had passed, and Daniel still hadn’t received the understanding. Then, something remarkable happened. An angel appeared to Daniel, and this is what
he said:
‘“Daniel, you are very
precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still
trembling. Then he said, “Don’t be
afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you
began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your
request has been heard in heaven. I have
come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the
kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then,
Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the
spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.
Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future,
for this vision concerns a time yet to come.’ (Daniel 10:11-14 NLT)
Daniel was feeling forgotten – alone – unworthy. But, in reality, none of that was true. In fact, God loved him so much that he sent
an angel to let Daniel know why the answer to his prayer had been delayed. There were things going on that Daniel
couldn’t see or understand – things that were bigger than his
circumstances.
That’s often the case when we have to wait on God. We can become so focused on our needs – on
the here and now – that we forget that there’s a bigger picture. We forget that “God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than
our thoughts.” (Is 55:9)
Waiting has the potential to make us miserable if we lose
sight of the bigger picture. But,
sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise.
We were reminded of this truth after our long day of waiting to get our
passports processed. When we got home,
we were tired and hungry and our feet hurt.
We felt a little ridiculous for having spent our whole day standing in
line. However, we also realized that
being forced to wait together had given us some concentrated family time – all
“working” towards the same goal – all experiencing the same “hardships” – and all
laughing together about that crazy experience after it was done. It brought us closer together as a family –
in a totally unexpected way. Looking
back, we all felt like it was a great day (even though it didn’t feel that way
while we were standing in that line).
There was something that we gained by waiting together – something more
than just the passports – something that we wouldn’t have gotten if we had just
driven up, turned in the applications, and then driven home.
It's that way with the promises of God. Sometimes, there is something to be gained in
the waiting – something that can’t be gained in any other way. And, when the answer finally comes – when the
promise is finally fulfilled – it will be all the sweeter for the waiting.
Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… Hebrews 11:1
