Day 38 — Good Things Come
John 5:7-9
Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
We talked about waiting yesterday and how there are so many examples across the Bible of the people of God having to wait. My adolescent self pipes up at such moments with questions like, ‘Why? And how long?’
Though there is no comprehensive or fully satisfying answer to those questions, we can take some heart from the Biblical examples around waiting. Sometimes the waiting is longer, because the preparation for what is to come needs to go deeper. As Guinness famously advertised, ‘Good things come to those who wait.’
Across the Bible we see how in waiting God purifies people’s motivation, he provokes people’s desperation, and he prepares people’s expectation. The waiting is the pre-requisite for encounter. In waiting we accept a posture of powerlessness and in the context of the kingdom of God, this posture of powerlessness is a pre-requisite to receiving the power of God. God’s power is not released through our activity but through our accessibility.
In this current moment of inhibited activity, there is maybe an invitation and an opportunity to wait. This waiting may involve purification and separation from things that inhibit God giving us what we are asking for and we may find ourselves provoked to greater desperation. These are both signs of preparation.
In his journal writings, David, a colourful character of the Old Testament, expresses his frustration with the waiting. ‘How long?’ (Psalm 13) he moans on one occasion. David’s story and experience are very different to our friend in John 5 and yet, he finds himself in the same place of longing, waiting has stripped back and refined his desires: ‘One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after’ (Psalm 27). That one thing is to encounter God. Despite having tasted most of the good things that the world had to offer him, David finds himself hungry for more of what can only be encountered and experienced in God. Therefore, he sets himself to wait.
‘Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.’
Prayer – Jesus thank you that you are interested in my availability rather than my ability. Here I am. Speak Lord for your servant is listening. Work in me in this time according to your plans and purposes. I trust you, and I know that your plans are good.
Sam Miller
Open Doors