In The Waiting
I’ve not talked to many people who enjoy waiting, especially kids. Do you remember having to wait as a kid? Waiting for a kid is a form of torture. It could be Christmas, a birthday, an upcoming vacation, or simply the dinner meal. Waiting, long or short, is hard and not very fun. But does that make it pointless?
Think about it this way. There are several moments in Scripture and in the liturgical calendar where waiting is what is required. During advent we wait for Christmas, Immanuel, God with us. Currently, we are waiting for the second return of Jesus. The Israelites know a thing or two about waiting as well. First, they spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt. Many years later, after coming back from their final captivity, the Israelites waited for 400 more years before God made another move, publicly at least. That is a long time to wait.
Yet, there is purpose in the waiting. God does something in the waiting. One might say that God prepares us in the waiting.
And that is exactly what preparation is like for a missionary leaving for the field for the first time. There are clearly visible things we do to prepare. For our family, we went to a conference to learn the ins and outs of support raising from a biblical perspective. We met with family, friends, and churches to share the vision for what God was calling us to in Sicily, and then invited them to partner with us through finances and prayer. We gave away almost all of our belongings. We spent quality time with family and friends as we prepared to say goodbye for a season, or longer. We were very active in the building of our partner team, but we also did a lot of waiting. These are many of the ways in which we prepared to go to Sicily. But it is only a small sample-size.
In fact, I only focused on the physical ways in which God prepared us for the field. But we are more than just physical beings. In the Old Testament, in the passage known as The Shema, we are told, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). In the New Testament, during a dialogue between Jesus and a religious leader, another aspect of our nature is added. It reads, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” (Luke 10:27). Preparation is more than just a physical thing. We are being prepared at the heart-level, the soul-level, and the physical-level. This means there is a soul-level preparation that is taking place as well in the life of a missionary.
“There is purpose in the waiting. God does something in the waiting. One might say that God prepares us in the waiting.”
Truthfully, I’m not sure I can fully speak to that yet. Not because I don’t want to. I simply don’t know if I actually know all the ways God has prepared me or my family. As time goes by, I’m sure God will reveal more ways in which He prepared us for this chapter of our lives.
Even though waiting isn’t fun, there is purpose in the preparation. The Israelites waited 400 years before God came on the scene again. The result was the next step in God’s redemptive plan for the world. We didn’t quite wait 400 years. We waited just over a year from the time we started the application process with OMS before departing for the field. But we also find ourselves in this amazing redemptive plan for the world.
It is my prayer that, in some way, our being in Sicily will result in more people entering the kingdom of God. That is ultimately what God has prepared us for. That is something worth waiting for.
