We’ve all experienced time spent in waiting rooms. It might be the doctor’s, the dentist’s, the station or wherever, but over our lives we’ve all spent, some might say wasted, hours of our time waiting for appointments or arrivals/departures. Sandra and I spent nearly 7 hours waiting at Shanghai airport recently. Admittedly we were able to take advantage of the first class lounge to enjoy free food and drink, but it was a long wait and as well as taking refreshment, we read, dozed, and doodled on our mobiles etc. to fill the time. It would have been good to have been a bit more productive with our time, but there you go.Our lives in this world could be viewed as being in a waiting room, or waiting area. Is it not true to say we are waiting for God – for him to call us home if we are believers. But just as it would have been good if we could have made better use of our time in the air-port lounge, so in the waiting room of life it is important that we make good use of the time we have available—time which, let’s be hon-est, is fast running out.There was a sitcom series on TV back in the 90s entitled ‘Waiting for God’. It was about the antics of residents in a retirement home running rings round the staff. For many, such homes, or worse – hospitals and the like, are simply like waiting rooms with people waiting for the end when they will meet their Maker (whether they believed in him or not).
But for the true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, surely our time can be better spent—even when we are unable to be as mobile as we once were. Because the blessing is that God gives himself to us now—not just later. To quote Jeff Lucas: ‘He immerses himself in our lives. He listens to our flawed prayers, offering guidance and direction, connecting us in relationships for purpose, and being alongside us, whether we sense his pres-ence or not.’
The prophets of the Old Testament spoke to a waiting people. They were waiting for Mes-siah to arrive. Yet God was constantly re-vealing himself to them to give guidance, instruction and encouragement, so that their waiting time was profitable and honouring to their Lord. We now have the risen Emmanuel—”God with us” to help us make our waiting useful and productive.
Steve Piggott
Elder
March 2013
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