"From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind, from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth - He who forms the hearts of all who considers everything they do." (Psalm 33:13-15)
Last night’s Elimination of Hurry study centered around the spiritual discipline of slowness. We introduced the principle of slowing down our frames so our souls have a chance to catch up. Naturally, the topic of waiting came to the surface.
During our class, I talked about a season where waiting for God top open the next door felt a lot like waiting for the dentist. I inadvertently shared how much I despise the dentist office waiting room. I’m not anti-dentite, as Seinfeld might suppose. I keep my cleanings and I appreciate their skill set, but I’ve had dental trauma enough to get the jitters in the long moments leading up to the novocaine every time. I only have high blood pressure when I smell the antiseptic. 🙂 I’m especially nervous when I’m seeing a new dentist, a reality which has played out far too many times due to relocations and retirements.
Last night’s teaching included this verse in Psalms, and then, in discussion, a friend and former student shared how encouraging it is to recognize God seeing us while we wait. He’s not only functioning on the other side of the wall, attending to more urgent matters, He’s also on the commercial couch beside us, waiting with us. Our anxiety isn’t unobserved, it’s actually attended by the Almighty.
This changes everything. Our hours or days of wait are not the spiritual equivalent of the dentist’s office where you are just another name on a clipboard amidst a tightly packed schedule cleanings and fillings. No, the Doctor Himself has slipped in the room with us. He’s monitoring our mindset and our blood pressure, but also the whole world and our potential contributions to it. Spiritual waiting rooms are about His perfect timing and our preparation. I’m becoming convinced, He can accomplish more in our soul in a season of wholehearted waiting than a lifetime of distraction.
Waiting rooms might be the space where the actual treatment plan takes place.
If we can recognize and revel in the fact that God is with us in reception and if we are willing to sit attentive to Him, He can rearrange our souls while we wait.
I keep going back to Joseph the Dreamer. That young man had so much potential, yet he spent twenty years in the proverbial plastic chairs between regular life and divine appointment. How bitter he might have become! How appropriately exasperated! Yet we don’t see it in the scripture, not one iota. Instead we witness an emotionally and spiritually mature man come out of his waiting room with purpose and wisdom, ready and willing to serve the very souls that sold him out. It’s stunning, really!
Perhaps the waiting rooms of life aren’t about the appointment that comes after them as much as the spiritual formation that happens in them. Joseph’s name was going to be called either way, but if he hadn’t been aware of and attentive to God’s present in his anteroom, he would have arrived at his divine appointment ill-prepared.
Friend, some waits involve years. The remarkable truth is, God promises to go with us (WYWYG) in waiting rooms and public platforms alike. The sooner we settle in and seek His presence, the better it is with our souls when our name gets called. Our set-aside seasons serve us well when we heed the One who waits with us, inviting us into unseen but advantageous character reformation.
Maybe you’re there now, perched on the plastic cushions of the proverbial couch. Stop checking your phone and clenching your jaw. Instead, choose to seek and settle into the presence of the Almighty who sits right beside you, ready to instruct your soul in something new.
"We wait in hope for the Lord, He is our help and our shield, In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. May Your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in You." (Psalm 33:20-22 NIV)
Lord, forgive us for wasting our waiting room seasons. We can get so focused on what comes next that we lose sight of the fact that You want to do something here, too. Please give us an awareness of Your presence today; the Doctor will see us now, even if the door hasn’t opened yet. We surrender ourselves to Your rearrangement. Please address our attitudes and appetites that will produce problems in public spaces. Craft our character in these hidden moments and ready us for whatever comes after this. May we wholeheartedly trust Your tutelage and Your timing. Amen.
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