Hold. As in "please hold on while I try that extension". Or as in "hold please".
We do a lot of holding some days, weeks, months. Just lately I was on hold for a person from the CRA. That took some 45 minutes and they let me know that they may be recording what was going on on my end during the whole wait time. We have had our garage project on hold. Waiting for inspectors to pass or fail certain portions of our work. We are all on hold until next Monday. Waiting for election results to come in. Record numbers of us have voted in advance. I did notice that the elections folks held off on us going digital. Too much fiddling around during the last year or two in more than one country made them leery of doing so. We wait as we hold for things to happen.
Waiting is something that is very familiar in the bible. In Genesis 29, Jacob shows mighty perseverance in waiting some 14 years to finally marry the woman he wanted. The wisdom literature of the Old Testament is replete with waiting. Psalms 33, 37, 46, 62 and 130 all have waiting. Psalms 46 and 130 are my two favourites. And perhaps the other best known passage is in Isaiah 40. Waiting has great benefits to those who will put their lives on hold to seek the Lord.
We are just finishing a period of waiting in the church. Jesus has died, shown that death has been defeated by being resurrected, and then we have had 50 days while the disciples wait for further direction and instructions. What God has in mind on the day of Pentecost is so much bigger than any of them could imagine. Acts 2 shows us how our Christian church was birthed. I am always mindful that from the very outset we have had detractors. Right now many of us are on hold waiting to see what the next major reformation of the church will look like.
When I get frustrated with waiting and things being on hold, I use this method. Breathe. Calm down and focus on what you will pray about and for. Offer the prayer(s). Now pause. See what God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have to say. Proceed from there. If I am wrong, nothing happens or it doesn't go well. If it has the blessing of our Triune God it works how I envisioned it. Now, what are you holding on for right now? Pr. Scott
