KNOWING AND WAITING
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21 NKJV)
Waiting is heard, unless we know what we are waiting for! If we have confidence then we have patience. If we are not sure, we hate waiting!
There are so many things we can apply this thinking to. For instance, we can wait for someone to show up right up until the time we know they were planning to arrive. After that time passes things change. If they are normally late, well that is nothing new; but after too long waiting gets harder. Add in some bad weather or other conditions and it can get just plain miserable unless we have great confidence in their promise to come and ability to perform what they promise.
As a Christian, we can confidently wait upon the Lord. He has a proven record and a proven ability to accomplish what He promises. Still, people who are just waiting on the Lord are at times the most difficult people to be around, because they are not happy waiters. They are just waiting to see. Everything they see is the sign and when the sign does not produce it is back to more waiting. And as we can all agree waiting can be hard; unless you are able to rest in what you know!
When Jesus was born, Simeon knew that he would live until he saw him. We do not really know how peacefully he waited, but when the Lord sent him to the temple he knew Jesus was the one! What he knew sustained him till he saw.
Paul writes about his citizenship in heaven like he was already there. He was walking through life in heavenly places even when he was going through terrible circumstances. He encouraged others with the same understanding that he had.
Jesus is going to return. He is present. He is powerful and He is able. If we know this we can live waiting and not be discouraged.
How awful would it be to worry through every trip that this may be the one in which you have a terrible accident? What every time you got on an airplane all you could think about were the ones that crash? That is like waiting for disaster. Sometimes people are more confident in disaster that in success.
Right now, we can know God can handle things. Some people are trapped thinking this pandemic will never end. There are plenty of sources that try to keep us in fear and telling us nothing will ever be the same. Well Jesus promises that if we trust in Him we will never be the same again. When we know Him, then He is all we are waiting on and He is all we need.