Waiting on His Clock

 By Jessi Phinney 

Tick, tick, tick…the sound of a clock…it’s something we hear and know we are utterly helpless to change or manipulate.  We can try--by attempting to fool ourselves or live in denial. But there is simply nothing we can do to change seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, or years that roll by.  Even if we just sit…time passes.  I often will sit still before the Lord at night and listen to the two clocks in my room competing to get to the hour first, ticking steadily, and faithfully marching on--whether or not I am ready to move forward. This becomes a reminder to me that even though time itself seems to be passing swiftly and taking me along for a ride, God is not manipulated by the clock.  He is not dominated or concerned about the passing of time. His heavenly clock is nothing like my earthly one and His makes perfect sense…all the time.  Mine, on the other hand, rarely makes sense to me, and can so easily induce panic within ~ the things I didn’t get crossed off my list that day, the busy day that awaits me, the petitions raised before heaven that still seem unmet, the rapid speed of the children growing, the way the world around me is changing, and the list goes on and on. Fill in your own blanks, because we all struggle with it, and we wonder, and we wait some more.  We are back in front of it, staring it down. It’s the waiting game. Will we ever be done?

 

Let us proceed to a different reality…the heavenly realm.  Our minds can’t quite get around this one, because here is a place where God reigns and is not controlled by a single being--angelic or otherwise.  He is simply and powerfully, the “I AM.”  He is not only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--He is our God.  The One who knows not only every intricate detail there is to know about you and me, but about all who are His own, as well as those who have rejected Him, those who persecute Him, rulers of nations, angelic beings, demons of darkness, and Satan himself. Yet, He is not intimidated by a single one. Though we may believe all of what was just said in our minds, we do not often treat our God with this awe and trust in our day-to-day lives.  I know far too often I do not.  I am too concerned with the ticking of my earthly I Love Lucy ™ ¹ clock telling me I’m running out of time to ________, and then I start thinking, “What is God waiting on?”  I just jumped on the wrong train and it is only going to lead me down a track that will end in despair.

What train are you jumping on?  The one that fills you with a hope that does not disappoint (Romans 5:5) or the one that tells you, “It’s too late, God can’t change that person,” “God only has until Sunday to tell me what to do. I have to make a decision by then,” “I’ve prayed and waited. Maybe God wants me to use my free will now.”  These are lies; shallow, pitiful ways that the Enemy traps us again and again. I’ve been there and I will be again in this lifetime, because we are in a battle!  One thing, we far too often forget to remember, is a spiritual one. When we jump on the wrong train, we frequently fail to see what He has equipped us with. For starters, there is the Holy Spirit indwelling us, granting us the privilege to function from a “not I, but Christ” (Col. 3:10) perspective, as well as the armor of God, which He so freely grants us access 24/7 (Eph. 6:10-18).  Our clocks will always remind of us of what is TEMPORAL, while His clock will always remind us of what is ETERNAL.

 In the truthful words of Andrew Murray~

“Just think for a moment of the multitude of waiting ones who need that prayer [Ps. 25:3]; how many there are, sick and weary and solitary, to whom it is as if their prayers are not answered, and who sometimes begin to fear that their hope will be put to shame.  And then, how many servants of God, ministers or missionaries, teachers or workers, of various name, whose hope in their work has been disappointed, and whose longing for power and blessings remain unsatisfied. And then, too, how many, who have heard of a life of rest and perfect peace, of abiding light and fellowship, of strength and victory, and who cannot find the path.  With all these, it is nothing but that they have not yet learned the secret of full waiting upon God.  They just need, what we all need, the living assurance that waiting on God can never be in vain.  Let us remember all who are in danger of fainting or being weary, and all unite in the cry, ‘Let none that wait on Thee be ashamed!’

If this intercession for all who wait on God becomes part of our waiting on Him for ourselves, we shall help to bear each other’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” ²

The secret is not in getting it right each and every time. The secret is in the embracing of the wait, for nothing should be sweeter than to know His intimacy as we wait.  Let us be as the virgins with oil in our lamps, living every day ready for our Groom’s return, AND for what He has given us each day in the moment (Matt. 25:1-13).  The secret is in the answer to the question we asked in the beginning, “Will we ever be done?”  No, we aren’t ever to stop waiting, because even if the temporal gets met in this lifetime, the eternal is not fulfilled until He returns for His bride. He will not grant us the temporal, unless it is part of His clock to complete the eternal.  It is as Murray encouraged us: we are to see one another in those weary moments of waiting, bearing our burdens with one another in Truth, and praying the words of Psalm 25:3, 5: “Indeed, none of those who wait for Thee will be ashamed; those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation; For Thee I wait all the day” (emphasis mine).

God is always worth the wait, so don’t jump off His train; it leads to a hope that won’t disappoint.  Go the journey with me, and let’s encourage and offer His words of hope when the lies of the Enemy come.  So in the end we shall be among the ones who experience what we see when we wait on His clock.

¹ I Love Lucy™   brand is a registered trademark of CBS Worldwide, Inc. ™ 2005.

² Murray, Andrew.  “Waiting on God” (public domain: Popular Classics Publishing,  2012).

All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.