Light in the Season of Waiting

An excerpt from the book manuscript I have written on the topic of waiting. We are in a season of great waiting. If ever this was relevant, it is now:

The light

The power cuts we experience in the country we currently call home, can be unsettling.  They happen suddenly when you have that pot on the stove, or you are trying to do homework or are just getting kids settled to bed.  It’s difficult to navigate the pitch-black without some source of light. Fumbling around in the dark is time-consuming and confusing.  It makes you feel like a toddler, all awkward and prone to injury. My sons recently obtained wind up flashlights which are difficult to operate.  They require effort and constant starting and stopping. You cannot walk carefully and brace yourself for a looming piece of furniture if you are also winding up the light.   

I’ve started to think that in life, with every trial we face, we have a choice about how we walk.  We don’t choose the power cuts, but we choose the source of light.  Often we are thrust into times of darkness suddenly and unexpectedly. We don’t choose them. But, we do have a choice in our response. That response will determine our journey.  Our choice in the dark is to respond in the flesh, and walk in the dark unassisted, or respond in the spirit: dependant on supernatural light.  

Our flesh response is like wandering around in the dark, trying to make sense of our surroundings.  It’s problematic and what we think we see, we misunderstand and misconstrue. Our behaviour becomes erratic and at times idiotic, all because of the fear of falling or bumping things.  Interestingly, when the power is out, I have never known anyone to just throw their hands up in the air and just sit in the dark. Instead, we want to keep moving and functioning and doing.  Unfortunately for us, the way of the flesh, to just keep going at the same pace and in the same direction, even though it is pitch black, is our natural tendency.  This way of responding is without work on our part.  In this trial of waiting we think we can navigate it like walking in the dark without a light.  We can choose to walk the way of the flesh, unassisted by the light of Christ, which will lead us straight into many obstacles: difficult emotions, dangerous lies, and temptations.

But there is another way.  It is not easy grabbing hold of that wind-up flashlight.  It is not without effort and constant reorienting and working your hands like working out an active faith.  The way of the spirit is the narrow road which leads us closer to God, closer to trusting Him and believing Him.  Which way will you walk?  

There are many temptations to fumble in the dark, as we wait. There are temptations to only look for prosperity as a guide for where God lives. Temptations to grab hold of things we think can help us like a wobbly bookshelf or what we think is a stable handhold.  Temptations to let the crowd guide us, like some kind of phone flashlight off in the distance. Only, then we find we have wandered in a painful direction, in a place we don’t want to be: anxious, alone, confused. But if we let God guide us, He will not let us be overcome and will lead us to a safe place. Let us stop and examine where we are. Are we guided by artificial light or the light of a Father who knows the way? Let us pause in the dark, take a deep breath, and call out for the light that only God’s presence can give.

I know you are weary, I am too.  I know you are prone to wander, I am too.  But God’s Word is filled to the brim with examples of other wanderers like us who had choices to make in their seasons of waiting on God, in their seasons of darkness.  Let us press on then, towards the prize. Waiting is an inevitable reality of life on this side of heaven, and can be holy ground. I believe God has more for us in seasons of waiting than we realize, if we choose to walk in the Spirit, with Him, through our affliction of waiting.  Grab His light, His word, and walk in confidence knowing He will not let you fall.