In our Bible study this week, we have been looking at Acts 1:12-26. This is the only account we have of the ten days between the ascension of Jesus to heaven and the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the church on the Day of Pentecost, and whilst it is interesting to note that we now have a definite timescale for that period, for the disciples at the time, this was a waiting period full of anticipation but no definite knowledge of when the ‘promised gift’ would arrive (or what would happen subsequently.)
Waiting is, in the words of Michael Card, ‘the most bitter lesson a believing heart has to learn.’ (‘Maranatha’, Michael Card) Waiting is so very difficult precisely when we do not know when the thing we are waiting for will happen. It’s hard enough waiting for specific things like birthdays and Christmas, but at least there, we have a definite timescale! We know that with enough patience and God’s mercy, the birthday date will arrive, that Christmas will still be on 25th December! When we are waiting for God to move or to fulfil His promises, however, there is no timescale necessarily to reassure us.
Waiting is closely linked to hoping, since we wait for the things we hope for, for the things God has promised to do. Paul says even the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. (Rom 8:19) He says, ‘we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.’ (Rom 8:23) The Christian life is full of this tension between the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’. These first disciples were waiting for the Holy Spirit, as commanded by Jesus (Acts 1:5, 8); we live in post-Pentecost days and yet there are still promises of God to be fulfilled in our lives, in our churches, in our communities, in our world. If we are to wait well, we must learn to hope well. Paul says, ‘hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.’ (Rom 8:24-25)
In this waiting game, when we feel perhaps frustrated and impotent, we learn that there is something we can do while we are waiting. What did the believers do in those ten long days? ‘They all joined together constantly in prayer.’ (Acts 1:14) Far from assuming the Holy Spirit’s arrival was a foregone conclusion (since Jesus had promised this), they joined together and prayed constantly – earnestly, devotedly, persistently. (see also Col 4:2, 1 Thess 5:17) They sought God fervently and there was unity in their gatherings and in their prayer requests. As John Stott puts it, “God’s promises do not render prayer superfluous. On the contrary, it is only His promises which give us the warrant to pray and the confidence that he will hear and answer.” (John Stott, ‘The Message of Acts’, P 54)
If we want to know what to do while we wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled, the first thing is to pray. Secondly, we must believe that God will hear and answer. His timing is not necessarily our timing, but we have to learn that waiting is not a waste of time. I’m always challenged by Eugene Peterson’s words on waiting: “Waiting does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying. And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion of fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what He has said He will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let Him do it His way and in His time.” (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’, P129)
While we’re waiting, we pray and we work, just as the early disciples did. Theirs was a ten-day wait. Ours may be much longer, but God is looking for those who will wait for the Lord, wait and be strong and take heart. (Ps 27:14) God’s answer will come. The definition of the phrase ‘a waiting game’ is ‘a tactic in which one refrains from action for a time in order to act more effectively at a later date or stage.’ The disciples were wise, for they were being obedient in waiting for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. Only He would give them the power to be more effective for their Lord. The same is true for us.
