• Home
    • Ways to Give
  • Prayer Corner
    • Share a Request
    • Memorial Tribute >
      • Hetty Postma
      • Edna Kirby
      • Norman Hunter
      • Ina Rottier
      • Dennis Brommeland
      • Norris Thompson
      • Irv Wood
      • Ann Vander Kooi
      • Jack Demorest
      • Yde Vander Kooi
      • Ainsley Rose Wollf
      • Dick Mayer
      • David Rusnell
      • Bob McKay
      • Guy Deschatelets
      • Chloe Kroeger
      • Ida Barisoff
      • Gerard Zandee
      • Nick Dikur
  • About Valley
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2022 Annual Report
      • 2021 Annual Report
      • 2020 Annual Report
      • 2019 Annual Report
      • 2018 Annual Report
    • Membership Information
    • Who We Are
    • What We Believe
    • How We Are Governed >
      • Constitution & Bylaws
    • Where We Are Going
  • Ministries
    • Leadership Team >
      • Nomination Committee
      • Benevolent Ministry
    • Finance and Property >
      • 2023 Budget
      • Current Quarterly Report
    • Missions >
      • Missions Guidelines
    • Caring and Connecting
    • Christian Education >
      • Library
    • Worship >
      • Heritage House
  • What's Happening
    • Bulletin
    • Links
  • Photos
    • Annual Celebration >
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011
      • 2010
    • 30th Anniversary
    • 25th Anniversary
    • Follow the Duck 2014
    • Mexico 2013
    • Follow the Crown 2013
    • "The Bridge"
    • 20th Anniversary
  • Messages
    • Archived Messages 2023
    • Archived Messages 2022
    • Archived Messages 2021
    • Archived Messages 2020
    • Archived Messages 2019
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Directions
    • Directory
VALLEY CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Waiting on God

5/19/2023

1 Comment

 
ar too often of late, I have found myself in, what is appropriately called a 'waiting room'.  As I sat in one such area recently, I noticed a group of people in line at a registration desk with a sign that read, 'wait behind this line until you are called'.  Another sign nearby instructed patients to have a seat and wait for your number to be called.  After waiting for a few minutes, I was redirected to another area where I was told to have a seat, a technician will be with you shortly. I waited patiently, but I must confess, I don't like to wait.  I don't like to wait in line, I don't like to be put on hold on the phone and I don't like to wait behind an accelerator-challenged driver!  

This was not an anxious kind of waiting, but as I write these words my mind takes me back to times when waiting caused a measure of angst, a feeling of uneasiness and deep concern.  I remember sitting in the waiting room at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto as our son, Scott was having lung surgery.  The procedure took much longer than anticipated.  After more than 3 hours Janice and I were the only ones left in the room, even the volunteer at the desk had gone home.  That was a much more stressful time of waiting.

We experienced a night-long period of waiting when Scott was admitted to hospital during the early days of Covid; a night I feared for his life.  I will never forget the night Andrea gave birth to Noah and Luke; they were so small, so fragile.  We quietly wondered if they would survive those first few hours.  Sometimes waiting is accompanied by moments of great fear and uncertainty.

Lewis Smedes writes, Waiting is our destiny as creatures who cannot bring about by themselves what they hope for. We wait in darkness for a flame we cannot light; we wait in fear for a happy ending we cannot write. We wait for a not yet that feels like a not ever. Waiting is the hardest part of hope.  But interestingly, over and over again, the Bible exhorts us to wait.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. (Psalm 37:7)

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. (Psalm 40:1)

I will wait for the Lord...I will put my trust in him. (Isaiah 8:17)

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, 
to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:25-26)

On the ark, Noah waited.  Abraham and Sarah waited for the birth of their son; for 24 years they waited for the son of promise.  For 400 years God’s people waited in bondage in Egypt.  They waited 70 years in exile.  God had promised a Messiah, but at the end of the Old Testament God’s people are still waiting.  They wait another 400 years while God seemed to be silent. 

Jesus came and lived among us, taught with authority and worked miracles.  His followers waited for Him to restore the Kingdom; to overthrow an oppressive Roman government.  But he was crucified and still God’s people lived in poverty and oppression.  After the resurrection, before ascending to the Father, His followers want to know, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?  (Acts 1:6)  
 
Do you remember Jesus’ response?  Do not leave Jerusalem but…wait (Acts 1:4).  All through the pages of the Bible we are told to wait.  In the final words of Revelation (22:20), Jesus says I am coming soon.   Soon, but not yet, and so we wait.
 
Waiting gives us time to think and reflect, and as I thought about my experiences of waiting, there are some things I have learned in ‘the waiting room’. While we wait, God is at work. Therefore, I must wait patiently in humility and trust, because waiting ultimately gives way to hope.

What God does while we wait, building in us perseverance and character and hope, is just as important, perhaps more important than what it is for which we are waiting.  Waiting is a confident, expectant but sometimes painful clinging to God.  It is a day-by-day decision to say, ‘God, I trust you, no matter what’.  I must trust that God has good reasons for saying ‘wait’; that God knows what He is doing. I must trust His wisdom and His timing. Even though it’s hard, even though I may be afraid, even though I may not understand, I will trust His heart, for He is faithful and good.  

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  (Isaiah 40:29)

When I’m weary, beat up, worn out, when I’m tired, lonely or afraid, it’s not the time to give up, bail out or turn away from my God.  It’s the very time I need to run to Him, for He is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1).  Isaiah says, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. (Isaiah 40:30-31)  Waiting gives way to hope.  When we wait faithfully, with eager anticipation, when we wait with patient trust and humility, we discover He is faithful; God sees and God cares! And that is enough; that’s enough for me!

There are some tremendous benefits from being in God’s waiting room.  When it seems like everything is falling apart and our strength is gone, that’s when we discover our God is mighty and strong.  He holds us tightly until the storm is past, until our hope is renewed.

Those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31 - NKJV).
1 Comment
Lia Pinske
5/20/2023 04:37:26 pm

Amen!!!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Ken Clarke has been the Pastor at Valley since 2007. He lives in the Oliver area 
    with his wife Janice. They have three adult children, Lisa, Scott & Tiffany (Riley, Charlie), Andrea & Jason (Noah, Luke).

    Categories

    All
    Christian Living
    Christmas
    Church
    Creation
    Easter
    Finishing Well
    Leadership
    Mexico
    Most Viewed
    Nature Of God
    Our Stories
    Parenting
    Prayer
    Relationships
    Worship

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

4312 Black Sage Road Box 1235 Oliver, BC V0H 1T0 250-498-4829 valleyccc@hotmail.com