Hurry Up…and Wait.

Nov 1

Among everything else going on this year, Chris and I have decided to put our house up for sale. A few weeks ago as we were discussing the possibility of this, I expressed my desire to know the exact next step (where we will move and when) before we went to all the work of getting our house ready and putting it on the market. This year has been filled with what seems like more opportunities than normal to take a step in the future without having any idea what is coming and truth be told, I was whining, wanting one thing in my life to be clear, easy and laid out for me.

About two seconds after the words came out of my mouth I sheepishly said, somewhat under my breath, that I suppose if I knew the future it wouldn’t be walking by faith. God was giving me yet another opportunity to trust him.

In the Christian culture we talk about faith a lot. We live a life of faith. We are people of faith. It is a word we throw around and again I hear the guy from Princess Bride in my head. “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means”. To live a life of faith is more than believing in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It is how that belief causes us to walk in our everyday lives.

I like to read the accounts of Jesus calling the first disciples to follow him and picture him standing by the Sea of Galilee with a twinkle in his eye, beckoning Peter, James, and John to follow him. This is how I see Jesus in my own life, a little ahead of me on the path, looking over his shoulder calling me to follow, with a grin on his face. Like the disciples, you and I have no idea what a life following Jesus will look like. When we choose to live our lives walking with Jesus we leave behind the old way. The old ways we felt important, the old ways we self-soothed, the old ways we thought, talked, and acted. The old things we valued even. And leaving all of that behind to follow Jesus takes faith.

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith for us which is so nice because as I previously alluded to, maybe we don’t actually take the time to think about what impact faith has on our lives. The writer of Hebrews says faith is, “being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.” This gift of faith is a crucial piece of following Jesus, how in the world do we leave everything known behind and follow Jesus into the unknown, without having sure hope and certainty of the future we know nothing about? To follow Jesus, to really follow him giving up everything, surrendering and trusting takes immense amounts of faith.

I desperately want to live my life by faith, not by sight, and there are a few reasons this is so. First, what I see around me offered by the world seems to be lacking. If I put my faith in what I see; politics, people, the economy, even my abilities, I will be sorely disappointed. Putting my faith in an unseen future because I am following God who has radically impacted my life, who knows the future and has my good at heart is a way better option to me. Second, I believe Ephesians 2:10 where it says God can do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask, think or imagine. I want to see God do amazing things in our world. I want to see him change things for the better. I want to see hearts healed, lives restored, and communities transformed. These things will take following God into the unknown. Witnessing these kinds of things at an up close and personal level takes, walking with Jesus by faith.

In Evangelical America we don’t like unknowns. We like 3-5 year plans, 401ks, certain returns on investments. We like projections, “sure” things, programs that equal results. We want our lives to be successful and predictable and we don’t operate well in uncertainty. And yet over and over again as I read God’s word, the Bible, I see many examples of people doing things that would look crazy and unstable if done today. LIke Abraham going to a land God would show him, after he packed up everything and left. Or David walking out to meet a giant, and also spending much of his life running from a jealous King. Jonathan and his armor bearer went up the side of a mountain to confront their enemies in faith believing God could deliver them into their hands. The 12 disciples spent three years following a guy who they later boldly declared to be the Son of God. A prostitute spent the most expensive perfume to anoint a traveling teacher, Noah built a boat, Rahab put a cord in her window, Ruth left her family to be with her depressed mother-in-law. I could go on and on, but maybe you are getting the picture?

The examples of people who followed God are not examples of people who had the whole plan before, or even during, their journey. They took what they knew of God and trusted him as they took one step at a time.

I was in the bathroom cleaning to get our house ready for a showing the other day and I thought the tagline of my life right now is “hurry up...and wait.” Hurry up and get your house ready to be sold, and wait for the right people and the right timing for it to sell. Hurry up and get the plans ready for Storyteller Cafe, and wait to find land. Hurry up and get through the approval process, and wait for permits. Hurry up... and wait. Maybe this is the tagline for everyone walking by faith.

Walking by faith is sitting with God, hearing what he is asking you to do, and being obedient to take steps to do it. This takes work and effort. To walk by faith with Jesus is not to stand, it is to walk. To move. This is the “hurry up” part. Obedience includes moving forward in some way. But here comes the wait part, the part that takes trust and faith. Once we have begun to move into the unknown we have to wait for God to work, for God to show us the next step. Walking by faith means we give up control, we surrender our understanding and after we take steps of faith we often must wait. Abraham waited for the promise of a son, Isaac waited for a ram, Noah waited for rain, Mary waited for a baby to become a Messiah. Rahab waited for the walls to come down, the Disciples waited for the Holy Spirit, Paul waited for the time to be right to start his ministry. John waited in exile.

The whole point of faith is believing, and acting on that belief, before you see. If this doesn’t characterize our “faith walk” we might have to ask ourselves if we are actually walking by faith at all.

When Jesus asks us to leave everything we know behind to follow him, he isn’t doing it out of spite or even as a test. He does this because he knows that what he has ahead for us is better than anything we would leave behind. Following him, walking with him, this is the greatest reward and joy we can achieve in this life. He is what we all crave, what will satisfy our deepest heart longings.

I still wish I knew the future, I wish I would know that everything will work out exactly the way I hope. And yet, even as I type those words I am not so sure they are exactly true. Because even though I may not know the future, I do know and trust God who does know the future. I am safe and secure in the steps I am taking as I follow him. I believe that by living a life of faith, I will get to walk more closely with him and see him work in and through me.

If your faith walk looks little, or a lot, like “hurry up...and wait” maybe you are doing it just exactly right, and I hope as you have read you are encouraged to know you are not alone.