People Really Hate Waitng

People really hate waiting – I know I do. Our days are sometimes filled by moving from one task to another, frustrated by any slight delay. In the serene mountain setting of the the Christian Camp in New Mexico, Camp Blue Haven,  we enjoy embracing a slower pace of life. But as Bible teachers at the camp, it’s challenging to resist the urge for quick outcomes, especially in our Bible classes, where we may seek affirmation of our teaching skill through the number of camper baptisms or spiritual and emotional breakthroughs we witness.

But often in our ministry, God calls us to a place of waiting. Sometimes, campers sit in the back, doodling or fiddling with pine needles. Sometimes, they purposely say the opposite of the correct answer during class. Frustration creeps in, and we wonder if we should even keep trying.

At these moments, we have a choice: we can focus on the expected outcome and an expected time frame, or we can focus on the unique individuals before us, each created in God’s image with distinct journeys, gifts, and wounds. God says His word will fulfill His purpose (Isaiah 55:11) – do we really believe that?

It’s exciting when we get to see some of the seeds we plant become tall pine trees, pillars of truth in the evil world. Once I saw a former camper named John at a restaurant, years after I had him in class. We carried on small talk for a bit, and then he told me something that humbled and amazed me: “You were the one that helped me fall in love with the Word, and I have embraced that by giving my life to it: I am in school to become a minister.” I was surprised and so moved that I had a role in shaping his spiritual life, and he would, in turn, shape the spiritual lives of many others.

Some could see a moment like that as proof that they are a good teacher – but John’s vocational choice was not made without the Spirit of God being at work, slowly, for decades, through many more people than just me.

I wonder at the dozens – or hundreds – of others that had poured into John. How many of them knew they’d shaped him? Did they have any idea what God had done with that word of encouragement, that lesson in wisdom, that prayer of faith, that model of godliness they set before this boy? Maybe some of them did; I’m guessing that at least as many had no idea. In John’s case, I got to come back to see the tree that grew from seeds I’d planted or the seed I had watered, but many had worked the soil throughout John’s life, when no growth was above the ground.

Author Tish Harrison Warren reminds us of this truth as she writes, “A fallow field is never dormant…. there is work being done invisibly and silently. Microorganisms are moving. Sun, fungi and insects are dancing a delicate dance that leavens the soil, making it richer, readying it for planting.”

We must not forget this important truth: Hope requires waiting – it’s pretty much in the definition.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of what we hope for, the evidence of things not seen.”

We don’t have the thing we want… yet. But we do hope, and not blindly, or without reason. Our hope is grounded in the resurrection: based on the memory of what God has done before, we believe what He will do again. So, we work, and we wait, sometimes impatiently, hoping to see signs of green from the ground where we have scattered the seed. We continue by faith, even when there is no visible evidence of God’s work. We keep bringing the kingdom – not just for one or two weeks, but daily, yearly; slowly, intentionally, trusting the story and the Author. By faith, we remember that what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.