FOCUS: The quiet wait

After a hectic and commotion-filled week, today is eerily quiet. The tomb is sealed. Steely guards stand watch, silent. The disciples huddle in an upper room, the door locked for fear of the Jews.

They may as well have been in a tomb too.

I can only imagine the disciples didn’t do much chatting. Peter, normally the most garrulous of them all, must have been stricken-silent. In  His Lord’s final moments Peter had denied Him. And how He was dead. Have you been in a grief-stricken situation where no one knows what to say? I can only imagine it was very, very quiet.

The land must have been quiet. It was the Sabbath. No work was going on, and all the commotion of the previous day had likely taken its toll on all those involved. The world must have felt strangely desolate without the King of Life in their midst.

What did they do? What else could they do?

Wait.

The same thing we do.

Have you had silent moments in your journey following Jesus?  I have. In some ways, I’m in one. Sometimes my early mornings, which can be action-packed and Spirit-filled, are excruciatingly quiet. Eerily silent. Where are you, Lord?  And what do we do when He seems strangely missing?

Wait. 

We embrace the quiet wait.

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1

I don’t like to wait. Do any of us? But waiting is the epitome of dependence, of humility, of trust.

Waiting is the essence of faith. The quiet wait is the posture of an obedient child, a loyal servant, a devoted lover.

The disciples had no idea what “It is finished” meant. They had no idea Jesus would return. When we are in the quiet wait we wonder if we’ll ever hear from Him again. Will He ever return? Ever show up again in my life? But we still wait because from Him alone comes my salvation.

All we can do is wait because He alone holds life. He is life.

The truth is: Sunday is coming and your Sunday is coming. He will show up, He will return, He will speak again. And until He does we humbly bow …

… and embrace the quiet wait.

~

{Reflection for today: In what area are you waiting on God today? How have you despised the quiet wait instead of embracing it? Does it seem eerily silent? Do you feel a hint of panic in your heart, wondering why is He taking so long? Quietly waiting with you and praying for grace, trust, and peace for us both. Thanks for reading.}