Waiting on the Lord

Imagine for a moment that you're standing at the entryway to a large maze - the largest and most complicated one you've ever seen - with hedges so lush that you can't see through them and so high that you can't see over them. At the entryway is a guard who hands you a piece of paper with some instructions:

• There are clues within the maze to lead you straight through to the exit. Follow them and you won't get lost.
• There are "goodies" placed at random throughout the maze - these may be big or small. You're free to pick them up as your see them.
• If at any point, you're lost and you need help, raise your hand and I will come get you. Until then, you're welcome to explore the maze as much as you want.

You pocket the instructions and then enter the maze. A few steps ahead, and it feels as though the maze has closed in around you, but you don't mind, because further ahead, you see a little arrow, half-hidden in the wall of leaves to your left. Your adventure has begun! You turn right and head down the path that the arrow pointed out to you. At every turn, every fork in the road, you look out for where the arrows lead you. You're doing a great job of following the prescribed path, until you see the first of the "goodies" - it's a beautiful chest, and it's only a few feet out of your way, so you go to it and open in up, pocketing the few coins inside it. You quickly head back to the path the arrows had led you down, and continue to follow it. You continue down the path until you see the next "goodie", a little farther away from the path than the last one was placed. And on it goes, with you following the arrows mostly, straying only to pick up the occasional "goodie", each one further away from the arrows than the last. You're very careful to return to the path, until you realise that you've followed one of the "goodies" too far off the path, and you're not too sure of how to return - there are many possible turnings, and they all look the same. So, you take a gamble and go down one of them, and then down another turns, and on and on, until you feel as though you're walking around in circles and not getting any closer to the exit. When you've walked down every possible way you could see and have completely given up hope, you pull out that piece of paper with the instructions, and read the last one. You stand on your toes and raise your hand as high as you can, so that whoever's supposed to come get you has no way of missing it. Just in case, you wave your arm frantically, hoping the movement will definitely catch the attention of whoever's watching. Then to make absolutely sure someone knows you need help, you yell out. But, there's no answer. You look at the paper again, and there it is in black and white: I will come get you. So, you settle down and wait.

You wait fifteen minutes. You wait half an hour. You wait forty-five minutes. After an hour, you start to worry. What if he hasn't seen you or heard your cry for help? What if he thinks you're doing okay and don't need help? You raise your arm again, wave your hand, and you cry for help. Except, this time, you keep your arm raised for longer and you shout louder. The chances of him hearing you this time are higher and, satisfied, you settle down to wait again.

This time, you manage to wait for forty-five minutes before you start to worry again. What is he wasn't watching? What if he was distracted and missed your cry? You didn't hear an answer, so you couldn't be absolutely sure that he heard you or saw your hand. And so you try again. And again.

Meanwhile, the guard is rushing through the maze to get to you, wherever you are. He sees your hand and he hears your cry. He calls out to let you know he's on his way, but your screams drown out his voice. He hastens to get to you. Again, you cry out, and he speeds up some more. But, the distance between you two is so great, it's going to take him some time. Again, he hears you cry our for help and now he's running toward you. You cry and he rushes. The cycle continues until he finds you and you're overcome with relief.

It's similar with Jesus and us. We are sent through life with the Bible. In the Bible are God's instructions to us. It tells us what we need to remember as we journey through life, cautions us about the many distractions the world has to offer us, and even gives us hope to hold on to for when things go out of our control. We enter this world armed with out instructions. On the way, we have our conscience that is constantly telling us the difference between right and wrong. Initially, we follow out conscience just fine, but as time passes, we start to move away. However, we also find our way back. The more we stray, the more we begin to trust in our own ability to return, and so we venture further and further away, until we've gone so far that we can't come back on our own.

And then we start to panic, but not too much. We have left the path before, and we've always found our way back. If we've done it once, we can do it again. And so, we start to search for our way back, using our minds to rationalise which ways are most likely to get us to where we want to be. However, our minds are not perfect, and we make mistakes and end up somewhere which is so removed from where we want to be, that we realise we need help and can't make it on our own.

We pull out the Bible and find a message of hope. In Jeremiah 33:3, we read, "Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and hidden things which you have not known." And so we call on the Lord, before sitting back and waiting for a word, a thought, or an inspiration to lead us back to where we need to be.

A day later, we're still waiting. A day feels like a really long time to wait for something when you're desperate. But, in the Bible, we read, "But do not forget this one things, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years; and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter 3:8) so, we make a mental note to be more patient and wait for God's time to arrive, and we settle down and wait some more.

But the next day, we're worried again. What if we never find out way back to the Lord? We open up the Bible again, and read, "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31) and the words give us hope of better days to come. And, in this hope, we quieten our minds and wait.

After a while, we tire of waiting. Maybe if we go searching it will speed up the process. We start to wander from here to there, in the hope of finding Jesus. And, when we're tired and ready to give up hope, we open the Bible again for inspiration, and we read, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6). And so you make a decision to trust in the Lord.

But, we're only human. After a while, the waiting tires us. And again, we find ourselves thumbing through our Bible, and this verse catches our eye, "The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9), and then we realise: This is what we've been missing. This is what we need to find peace - repent for each time we've strayed from the prescribed path - it doesn't matter whether we managed to find out way back; what's important to remember is that we strayed at all. And so we think back to all the times we ignored the arrows and went down another road, because we couldn't withstand the temptation of "better things". Repentance doesn't magically put us on the right path. But, with repentance, we know that when we are turned to the right path, we'll stick to it, no matter what temptations try to draw us away. And so, we sit down once more, with out new-found peace, and wait for our Saviour.

Meanwhile, Jesus has been watching us take every turn, from the time we stepped into the maze. At times, He rejoiced to see us follow the path He had personally marked out for us. At other times, He watched with sadness, as we chose another path, rejoicing when we found our way back. However, when we started to go farther and farther away, He began to worry, yet He could do nothing, because He had given free will, to go as we saw fit and to do as we pleased. And so, He watched, with mounting alarm.

Oh, the joy He feels when He first hears us call out to Him for help! He drop everything and rushes into the maze after us. With each cry we send up to Him, His heart experiences pain - pain that His beloved is still feeling so lost and abandoned - and He quickens His steps. He rushes on. His highest priority is rescuing His loved on.

He rounds that last corner, and there we are. He holds His arms out to us. Blessed are we who wait on the Lord for, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11).