A Day of Waiting

It's hard to find a theme song for today. Holy Saturday. The day between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. There's not much to see. Just a tomb and a guard of soldiers. There is no agonizing cross or triumphant resurrection. Just all of us. Here. Waiting. 

Nobody writes songs about that kind of thing, because it doesn't seem terribly important. But, in the days of hurry and distraction, it's important to remember that the Son of God didn't go for the quick gratification of an instantaneous return to life. He waited, in apparent defeat, for an entire day while His followers wept and doubted and the religious leaders breathed a deep sigh of relief over an averted crisis.

Carl Heinrich Bloch | The Burial of Jesus

Our world has little good to say about those who wait. When we don't seem to be going anywhere or doing anything important, we receive input ranging from, 'why are you wasting your life?' to polite suggestions of what we could be doing.

But we serve a timeless God. He is unconstrained by our fleeting years. He can see our past and our future at the same time, and He's willing to take as much time as needed to perfectly align circumstances and relationships. He is not restrained from accomplishing things at a pace that would better suit our frantic humanity, but He chooses to bring us along a slower path for our own benefit.

Because Biblical waiting is beautiful.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

It's in the times of waiting that we learn true patience. We begin to see time and circumstance from a higher perspective. We learn to listen more attentively to the leading of a still, small voice than to the clamor of our world. We begin to practice faithfulness in the humdrum of the everyday. We walk out our obedience in the things God has already given us to do, while trusting Him to illuminate the next step at the proper time. We grow in moral steadfastness and strength, and lay a firm foundation from which we may ascend to the next level of our spiritual journey. 

I'm reminded of the character of a servant in one of those old-fashioned films. No-one chides them because they stand, hands down, watching their employers eat supper. A good servant recognizes that obedience to the master and attentiveness to his desires are far more important than a great show of bustling about, looking busy in order to impress the other servants.

In the fullness of time, God will always show the next step of His plan. We have only to obey, to pay attention, and to trust.

And so, let the tomb of the Christ lead us to contemplate more deeply the God to whom a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. Let's examine our lives to eradicate the unnecessary hurry, the alluring distractions, and pray for our trust in God's perfection to grow so deep that we are no longer dependent upon the approbation of others. Let's ask for our spiritual eyes to be opened to the very great value of the faithfulness of those who wait.

Wait for the Lord, whose day is near;

Wait for the Lord, keep watch, take heart!

-Taize (the rest of the song is HERE)