Waiting is a painful process but an invaluable chapter in one’s life. Here we are taught lessons of patience, endurance, and perseverance — virtues that we need as we journey through the steep and rugged road to eternal life.
You may think that you are handpicked by destiny to a life of eternal waiting; but I am going to tell you, “You are not alone.” I have my share of waiting too like most of my faithful christian friends. And a thousand more have had. Persons like Sarah, Abraham, David, Ruth, Naomi, Daniel and his friends, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Habakkuk and the disciples had their share of waiting too — most of which were faith-shaking and life-risking kind of waiting.
However, there is another One, bigger than the great men and women of the Bible, who waited and is waiting until today. For Him, this waiting wont end until His Father says “Enough!” This person is Jesus Christ. Let me tell you shortly His story.
He loved the only way He knew how — purely and perfectly. With searching eyes He walked amidst the beautiful garden of Eden and cried, “Where are you?” He was out for a morning walk that day like every morning. He waited for His beloved but He found nobody in their meeting place. What went wrong? What happened to the holy pair? In His omniscience He knew, but His heart wailed in search for them, “Where are you?”
That day, His heart was broken forever. The holy pair fell to sin because they disobeyed His command. Because sin marred their holy nature, they could never again enjoy the intimate communion they once had with their Maker.
However, He loved them still the only way He knew how — purely and perfectly. He broke the deafening silence in heaven and said, “I am willing to lay aside everything, that I may have them back with me.” Michael became the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. The holy angels whose love for Him was as precious as their own lives protested, but the Law required the blood of the One equal with the Law. Michael had to die and bleed for the fallen race.
Thousands of years later, He came down as a babe in a manger. He grew up in favor with God and man; and taught, preached, and healed. He ministered to the needs of the ones He came to save but only a few accepted Him. Many, even the religious leaders of His time despised Him and afflicted Him.
On a table one supper, with a cup of wine in His hand He said, “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:29) Jesus knew his enemies were near. The time of His suffering had come. He could not rejoice now and drink of the wine with His disciples. So, He set Himself to thousands of years of waiting for you and for me. Then Jesus died on the cross at calvary.
That was more than two thousand years ago; and He is still waiting for that day until today. In your waiting, have you reached a thousand years, or a hundred years, or fifty years? How long have you waited? Have you waited long enough like Jesus?
The Comforter is promised
Jesus knew how hard and painful it is to wait. When we are set to wait, we are set to be tested, tried, and challenged. We are made vulnerable to discouragement, disappointment, and depression. So He did not leave us alone, but He willingly gives the Holy Spirit to comfort us in this season of waiting. He declared, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…” (John 14:16)
The Holy Spirit is the most neglected Persona in the Godhead yet He is as holy as The Father and The Son. If Jesus was “God with us” in the apostolic times, the Holy Spirit is the “God with us” today. He is our pillar of fire by night and the pillar of clouds by day. He is the joy that fills our soul. He is the warmth that comforts the sorrowful. He is the strength in our weakness. He is our wisdom and pow’r. He is as fierce as fire but as gentle as dove. He is the third person in the Godhead. He is God.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts, we shall manifest its fruit through our works and actions — virtues that give us inward beauty, the beauty of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures say, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” (Galatians 5:22-23)
As written by Apostle Paul, the fruit of the Holy Spirit consists of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. These are virtues that make any man and woman worthy of admiration, not only by ordinary people like you and me but by the heavenly host. What a wonderful gift is the Holy Spirit then.
The truth of the Holy Spirit is a real comfort in this season of waiting. If we invite the Holy Spirit to live in us and do the work He does best, our season of waiting becomes a season of great blessing. Here we are molded to become men and women after God’s own heart. Here we become the greatest want of the world, “men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” (Education 57.3)
When God Finds You 