Waiting on God

These are three words that have been coming up in my life with attention-grabbing regularity in the past few months, and I dare say I could have paid more attention to them in which case I might have been saved some trouble… But, as the Word of God comforts us – God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

But I digress… The thing I want to share with you is how those three words’ meaning changed for me. Naturally, the first mental picture we form when we hear the words: “waiting on God” is a person quite literally waiting, not making a move until they receive the signal from God, or strength, or wisdom, or knowledge, or all of the above, to perform a certain task. While on the Groblershoop mission, God gave me another picture of “waiting on God” that kind of revolutionised the way I look at those words now!

 

I saw myself in Spur where I used to work once-upon-a-time, and lo and behold, who should seat Himself at my bay, but my Father, God Almighty, the owner of the Spur and everything else on Earth. Naturally I am beside myself, ecstatic, in fact! Here is an opportunity to serve the Master! Wow! Not to be missed!

I rush to His table and gush, “Oh, wow, Lord! What can I get for You? No, wait, wait! I know! You are gonna just loooove today’s special!” And off I charge to bring God what I decided He should have today. In my eagerness and excitement I even bring Him the desert first, then the starter and then the main course.

All the while He is sitting there, waiting, like the Gentleman He is, for me to slow down and give Him a chance to speak. His finger is raised and I kind of notice that, but in my headlong rush to please Him (and the manager) I ignore it and redouble my efforts to win His favour with my decisions of what He should have.

Eventually I come to a halt, standing breathless at His table, expecting to hear, in reward for my efforts, the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” but God is silent, gazing at me with a mixture of amusement, pity and affection on His face.

“My Child,” He begins, “Who are you waiting on? Who are you serving?” I am fairly startled at the question, thinking the answer to be obvious. “Why… YOU, Lord!”

“Then why did you not wait to hear what it is that I want you to do for me?”