Waiting Is The Hardest Part!
The late Tom Petty wrote a song called, The Waiting. Part of the lyrics say, “Waiting is the hardest part, everyday you get one more yard, you take it on faith, you take it to the heart, waiting is the hardest part."
I can certainly relate to that song. There seems to always be something I’m waiting for. I’ve never been very good at waiting. If I’m behind someone at a stop light and the light turns green they have 3.2 seconds to get going before they get a polite honk from my horn. The words, “it’s going to take longer" are like hate speech to me. I was the kid in the backseat of my parents car saying, “are we there yet, are we there yet?” Please understand I’m not proud of this. Quite the contrary. It’s a struggle for me. In 1977 as a junior in college I went to Maui to help a pastor plant a church. The pastor was from the Bronx of New York where things move fast. The slow Hawaiian culture drove him crazy. He didn’t like waiting around for the locals to show up but he learned to respect their culture even if he didn’t like the slow pace.
The kingdom of God has its own culture. When we petition God about something we want or something we think is important or time sensitive we can expect to hear one of these three answers. No, not now, or yes. (Not now) in the kingdom of God can be translated, wait!
The first king of Israel, Saul, was told by the prophet Samuel to wait for him to do a sacrifice to God before the soldiers went into battle. Saul got impatient and did an unlawful sacrifice which eventually cost him his kingship.
I looked up the word wait in my concordance. Did you know that waiting on the Lord is a thing? One of my favorite verses in the bible in relationship to waiting is found in Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. When we wait on the Lord it gives us time to prepare ourselves for God’s answer and to be refreshed by the Lord.
We at Pacific Life Church have been waiting for our auditorium to be completed so we can hold services there again. Last week we were told there have been some setbacks in the renovation of the auditorium. Apparently it’s going to be a while before we are able to hold services in the auditorium. This is a real setback for our church. It’s been difficult to meet in the room we are presently meeting in. We have to start our set up on Friday evening, finish setting up on Sunday morning, and then tear it all down after church. We are hidden from the public and our situation is working against our ability to reach our community and grow our church. As a result of the auditorium delay we are actively searching for a new place to meet.
Although there have been three iterations of our church, we have been meeting at the same school since 1997. I feel confident that moving is in the best interest of our church at this time. Please be in prayer with us about this. If you hear of a church or venue that might work for our church please let us know.
Waiting on the Lord,
Steve