Waiting.
As you all know, some things are easier to wait for than others. Christmas morning is a hard wait if you are 3 years old, but I would argue that it is easier than waiting for your loved one to come home from the battlefield…if they ever do come home.
Waiting.
The birth of a child is a hard to wait if you are an expectant first time parent, but I would argue that it is easier than waiting for your loved one to die the slow, arduous death of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Waiting.
We all wait throughout our lives. Some waiting is exciting. Some waiting is anxiety ridden. Some waiting is explicitly tied to God’s action or lack of action.
We wait for answers from God. We wait for the results from the Holy One. We wait for Jesus to come and act. We wait. We wait. We wait.
In Matthew’s time, the early Christians had already been waiting 50 years or so for Jesus to come back. He said that he was going to come back. He said that it was going to be soon.
They waited like a child waits for Christmas morning, yet the morning never came. The presents never arrived. The time of reunion with Jesus did not come. It still has not come.
We still wait for Jesus today in lots of ways. We still wait for prayers to be answered. We still wait to gain clarity concerning what the future holds. We still wait for the presence of Jesus on a lonely night.
We still wait.
So, both those people in Matthew’s time and us are forced to learn the hard lesson of waiting with hope.
There are two ways that waiting can be done. As the parable says, we can come with our lamps lit and with flasks full of oil just in case the bridegroom is late to the wedding, or we can show up with lamps lit, but with no oil to spare.
The first who come prepared with flasks of extra oil (as if their scouting merit badges had prepared them for this their entire lives) are considered the wise.
And, unsurprisingly, those who came with no provisions are the foolish. The lamps of the foolish burn through all their oil long before the bridegroom arrives, and the foolish are unable to light his path. The foolish cannot fulfill their purpose. The foolish lose out.
It all seems rather easy when it is put that way. Just make sure you are wise and find yourself prepared.
But, what if you have been praying for a long, long time for something, and God still has not provided the answer? I am sorry, but sometimes even your flask of extra oil will eventually run out.
Waiting is not as easy as, “Just make sure to bring more oil in the first place.”
You know what makes me mad about this parable? It is that the bridesmaids who brought the flasks of extra oil did not share.
I know, I know, it is all to prove the point that those who expect to wait for God to act over the long term are faithful and wise, and those who lose faith when God has not acted after a couple hours after praying for something are faithless and foolish.
But, what if you have been praying and praying and praying for God to act, and God has not acted for a long time. How is it helpful to be sent away, alone, to go deal with it yourself?
Why, just at the time you need people to be there for you, do those around you say, not explicitly but through their actions, “I’m sorry, we just don't have the time to be there for you”?
Please understand, wise bridesmaids do not have to be rude ones. If they had shared some of their wisdom concerning patience, and maybe helped to pass the time a little bit, then when the groomsman finally did arrive no one would have been left out in the darkness.
I know that God is good. That is true. And, God does provide answers to our prayers, that also is true. It may not be the answer we want, but answers do come.
However, answers come "eventually." Eventually, they come. The bridegroom does arrive eventually. But remember that God has all the time in the world.
Of course, God answers our needs when the time is right, but it helps if we do not have to wait alone for God to show up. It helps if we have someone who will wait with us. It helps to have someone who will believe for us on the days we simply cannot believe. It helps to have someone who will refill our lamp when we are running dry. I helps to wait together.
Waiting.
It is the spiritual discipline of the wise. The wise know that God acts on God’s own timing. The wise know to bring extra oil because waiting is to be expected when it comes to God. I just pray that the wise be compassionate on those who have not yet learned the lesson of waiting.
It is a wisdom that needs to be shared, especially in this age where you order something from Amazon and it arrives on your doorstep the very next day. Or you want to listen to some new music, and all you have to do is simply go onto your smart phone and get it. There is no longer a need to wait for 6-8 weeks for processing and shipping.
We do not live in an age where waiting is something we expect to need to do. If we do not get answers to our texts within seconds, we panic and think that something must be wrong. We just are not a people who understand waiting. But, that does not change the fact that those who wait well are wise.
Here’s the thing about waiting. Those who wait with their lamps burning, wait with anticipation. They wait with hopefulness. They wait in the same way that new parents wait for those cute little feet and hands to arrive. They wait with a fullness of hope, knowing that God will come and act. They wait with anticipation and excitement.
Just as the soon to be mother jumps at every little movement and pain, wondering if this will finally be the moment the baby arrives, so too the wise in the faith watch for God’s movement every waking hour, wondering if God has finally arrived…if God has finally shown us an answer to our prayers.
I say “waking hour” because the parable clearly tells us that it is OK to sleep. But, even in our sleep, the lamp is still lit, just in case you need to jump awake and see the workings of the Lord. The wise have souls that are awake and ready, even while they wait, because they trust that the Lord will come.
But, such wisdom is a gift from God. Waiting patiently for God is not something that you just decide to do one day. You do not just one day say, “I want patience and I want it now!” It just does not work that way.
Rather, it comes from experience. It comes from God answering our prayers in God’s own time in the past, and thus we are given the trust and hope that God will do it again.
It comes from wise people who are willing to wait with you and remind you that sometimes things turn out better when you wait.
Waiting is a gift of peace in the middle of a seemingly unstoppable troubled sea.
Waiting is a gift of light when the darkness seems to be spreading.
Waiting is a gift of hope when all others sob in despair.
Waiting is a gift of the wise.
Lord, give us peace in our waiting. Keep our lamps burning in the darkness.
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