“While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8)

To be honest with you, I don’t like to wait. I find that when I have to wait, I grow impatient and nervous.

The reality is we are all waiting.

We are waiting for a conflict to resolve.

We are waiting for a sickness, disease or ailment to be over.

We all have those spaces that occupy our way of being and spirituality that we are looking forward to pass.

Waiting is difficult.

Waiting can be incredibly frustrating and anxiety producing.

By nature we like to rush ahead and “make things happen.” We love Martha, while we can criticize Mary. Martha gets stuff done, while Mary is commended about something that “will not be taken from her” as she sits peacefully at the feet of Jesus, to just be (Luke 10:38-42). Yet in the text cited above, we see the testimony of Luke recounting the instructions of Jesus to his disciples, “to wait.”

Here at the birth of the church, Jesus leads his disciples into a place of waiting. This is instructive to us. They were called “to wait for the Father’s promise,” that being the sending of the Holy Spirit to start a global ministry of being Christ’s witnesses to ends of the earth. The events of Acts chapter 1 were a unique, unrepeatable time in salvation history; yet within, there is a pattern revealed that points to a very important reality of Christian faith and spirituality. Our faith, is a waiting faith.

Throughout the Old Testament there were points where God’s promises of a future hope were revealed while God’s people awaited its fulfillment. From the time of the garden, we are drawn to lean forward for a time when a serpent crusher would be born. It was promised, yet they waited. Abraham and Sarah were promised to be the parents of a nation, while they remained barren in their old age. It was promised, yet they waited. Throughout the time of the kings and prophets we are told of a future messiah who could come and bring salvation to his people. Then as we press forward, the people of God found themselves waiting for a promised messiah for hundreds of years until the advent of Christ in Bethlehem. It was promised, yet they waited. Christ waited 30 years before entering into his 3 years of earthly ministry. Here they are told to wait for the Holy Spirit. Now, as followers of Jesus, we wait now for the second advent of Christ. Our faith is a waiting faith. Understanding this is central to a Christian spirituality and its rhythms within our lives.

The wait isn’t something we reject, but instead receive. The wait draws us to a place of a contemplative spiritualiity. The wait draws us to where God has been calling His people throughout Scripture, to a place of resting in grace; resting in His activity. Within the wait there is an anxiety that is quieted, birthed from a trust, knowing that the Father will fulfill His promises. Within this wait there is a promise of God’s animating Spirit that would endwell and empower His people. The Christian faith and way of spirituality, has never been about our work and activity, but instead it has always been about the fulfillment of God’s promise to be with and work on behalf of His people and in His people, as His people even do also work. The wait allows us to place proper attention upon God’s activity of grace. Such a form of patient, trusting faith that waits upon God’s timing and work, does an internal work within us. There is a spiritual formation that takes place within our souls during this process, that quiets the anxiety of the heart. To embrace the practice of waiting as a central form of our Christian spirituality, it calls us to rest.

As it has always been this waiting is not inactivity, nor is it apathy. Instead it is one that celebrates the animating work of the Spirit that has been promised by the Father that now indwells you, as a follower of Christ. As we await a life with no more pain, no more sickness, no more relational, social and economic aches and pains, we live lives leaning forward. As we lean, we wait for the ultimate fulfillment of all of God’s promises. As we wait for victory over particular temptations, we do so actively waiting, trusting and actively following Jesus who brings about ever increasing freedom and deliverance in our lives. As we wait, we trust. As we wait, we rest in His transforming grace that changes us. We rest in God’s spirit that animates us to be His witnesses. As we do so, God’s people enter into a supernatural reality of restful work that glories the One who works in and through us. Does waiting work? Yes, it works, while we rest and await the One who ultimately does all the work through and in His people. Our faith is a waiting faith, whereby we rest in the work of God in and through us for His glory to be revealed all the way to the ends of the earth.