Waiting
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
Recently, I received a video clip of my granddaughter. She was standing on a couch, looking out the window. She knew we were coming to see her, so she was watching and waiting. As she watched, she would call out my name, then my wife’s. Then she’d look to her mother with a puzzled expression because we just weren’t there yet. Back she went to peering out the window, calling our names.
It’s a video clip I treasure. For someone not yet two years old, a five-minute wait feels like an eternity. In her young mind, she must have wondered, What’s taking them so long?
She was still standing there waiting when we pulled up just a few moments later. The moment she recognized our car, she started to point excitedly. When we got out of the car, a big smile spread across her face — because we had finally arrived.
The church has been waiting a long time for Jesus to come.
They waited a long time for His first coming, and frankly, many didn’t recognize Him when He arrived. They weren’t even standing at the window, looking for Him. Since Jesus left this earth with the promise to return, we have been waiting again.
For many in this generation, our waiting resembles the ten maidens waiting for the bridegroom — who all fell asleep on the couch, so to speak. It seems that we may still be on the couch, but have stopped looking out the window and calling His name.
Matthew 25 tells us that all the maidens fell asleep. Yet the story makes a distinction between them. Half made no provision for the wait; the other half had prepared. When the time came, they filled their lamps with oil and went to the wedding. In other words, they were ready to jump back up on the couch. They were ready to see the bridegroom come. They were ready to light the way through the darkness because their lamps were full.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Jesus said we are to be as little children.
Maybe that includes how we wait — waiting with eager anticipation, calling on Jesus, and wondering when He will come. Waiting even when it feels like it’s taking forever. Waiting with the provision of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can recognize the times in which we live and see our Lord Jesus coming.
Let’s wait — and help others wait — with lamps filled, ready to recognize Him when He comes, ready to light the way for a dark world.