I was thinking at Easter about the days between the cross and the resurrection, and the excruciating nature of that time of waiting. The people with Jesus had heard the promise (whether or not they believed or understood it completely), and then had to sit in absolute discouragement for three days.
They had forsaken all else to follow a man, and then watched as he died on a cross and was buried. They were grieving and at a loss for what to do now. Their lives seemed to be a waste and they reeked of hopelessness and despondency. What had happened to the promise? It would be fulfilled, but not immediately.
How often have you been stuck waiting, wondering at the plan of God and His apparent silence? A counselee recently talked to me about “spinning his wheels” and not being able to get any traction. In the waiting, you aren’t going anywhere and you might feel stuck. You can look around at your life and decide you would rather run away than sit and wait anymore. The doubts start to creep in, with Satan being first in line to ask “Did God really say…?” and you wonder if you should even believe in a God you can’t see, and are not hearing from. The emotions of feeling deserted and abandoned are prevalent, and the days become endlessly gray.
This is the photography dark room Mike Wells spoke of. The place where we are submerged in an acid bath after waiting in darkness with no sense of Jesus being around. The waiting requires faith in a very big God, who never lies and never forsakes us. The waiting is the place where I choose to believe, even when much contradicts my belief. And when the promise comes, even if years down the road, I will know Jesus in a way I never would have without the waiting. If you are waiting today, hold on. He will keep His promise.
God is forever faithful and can be trusted to do this in you, for he has invited you to co-share the life of his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One, our King! 1 Corinthian 1:9 TPT