Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
Can you identify with the psalmist? I can. I’m pretty sure we all can.
Recently, I’ve spoken with several people about this very issue. There are many times we long to feel close to God and yet it feels as if He is a million miles away. We want to hear His voice and it seems as if He has refused to speak. We crave for the wind of the Holy Spirit to come and adjust our course in life. The air is still. And we wait…
I know what it is to wait. I watched 15 years of my life pass by while I waited. I cried. I prayed. I screamed. I trembled with fear while wrapped in a blanket of pain on my knees before a God of silence. At least it felt as if He was silent.
John 19:25-27
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (N.K.J.V.)
With those words spoken to John, Jesus was taking care of His mother.
And Mary waited…
Mary knew her Son was the Son of the Almighty (Luke 1:26-38). She was a woman of flesh and blood chosen to raise the Son of God, Who was God Himself. Can you imagine the amount of trust she had to have? The Bible does not tell us if Mary knew the complete reason or outcome regarding the death of her Son, Jesus. However, according to Luke 24:1-12, it seemed to come as a shock when the stone was rolled away, the tomb discovered empty, and her Son risen from the dead.
Most likely, Mary had to wait while her Son suffered and died on the cross without knowing the full plan of God. I wonder what words Mary cried out to God the Father while watching her son suffer. How was she able to handle her perfect son dying on a cross in the most excruciating way possible? From the viewpoint of a woman and a mother, I cannot think of a more powerful expression of waiting than the mother of Jesus waiting for her sinless Son to die, and having absolutely no idea why.
We don’t always hear from God exactly how we want, or when we want. We almost never escape pain and frustration while we wait. We must be willing to accept His Will and His plan regardless of the outcome.
Oswald Chambers said…
“Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says–‘I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands. Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”
Wait. Trust. Hope. Believe.
Are you overwhelmed while waiting? More importantly, are you trusting while waiting?
