Life on Hold?

The other day I placed a hold on a library book. I can only guess when I will actually get notice that it is ready for me. But unless something drastic happens, I can be pretty sure that I will eventually have my turn.

When I call the phone company and get put on hold (oh the irony!), I can be pretty sure that I will get through to a real person at some point.

I know that if I'm standing in the back of a seemingly endless grocery line, I will eventually be the last person in the cue.

Waiting is a fact of life. And most of the time we don't like that, let's face it. Waiting is not fun most of the time.

People talk about their life being "put on hold" by something unexpected that interferes with their plans.They had to put their vacation plans on hold because the car broke down. Or they say that their life was "put on hold" or "interrupted" by illness.

I don't think this is a theological correct way of thinking, however.

Everything that God gives us is His plan. What He has given us now is what is what He wants us to have. What we have now is His best.

Now we may not be feeling like this is the best--it definitely may not be what we want--but we have to trust that God knows what is best.

I think it is easy to act and talk as though God is holding out on us.

Singles are particularly prone to think this way. I may feel that I'm just flying in a holding pattern, waiting for Mr. Right, Prince Charming, "The ONE" to come along. But I cannot forget that God is not holding out on me--this is His best. This is the life that I need to live now.

Life is everything we encounter. As a character in Letters to Juliet points out, "Life is in the messy bits."

This doesn't mean that waiting is easy. It's not. There are countless Bible verses about waiting, asking "how long?"

One of my favourite verses is about this type of waiting:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

(Proverbs 13:12 ESV)

I like how this verse is about "hope deferred," but yet there is the hope of "a desire fulfilled." It is the paradox of hope that you can't hope for something you have. 

When you really think about it, Christian life is about waiting. God's people have had to wait since the Fall. Hebrews 11 gives us a whole list of what it means to wait. We're waiting now: Maranatha! (1Cor 16: 22)

The great thing about waiting as a Christian is that we can be certain of God's faithfulness. We can trust in His goodness and grace and mercy and love. (His justice and . . . ) We can wait knowing that God holds us in His hand, that nothing happens to us without His will.

Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 1

Q.1 What is your only comfort in life and death? 

A. That I am not my own, 1
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death, 2
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 3
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood, 4
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil. 5
He also preserves me in such a way 6
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head; 7
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation. 8
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life 9
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10

1. 1 Cor 6:19, 20.
2. Rom 14:7-9.
3. 1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14.
4. 1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2.
5. Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8.
6. Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5.
7. Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18.
8. Rom 8:28.
9. Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14.
10. Rom 8:14.

"Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous."

(Psalm 25:3 ESV)

"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!"

(Psalm 37:7 ESV)

"But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer."

(Psalm 38:15 ESV)

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;"

(Psalm 130:5 ESV)