“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness… there came the voice of the Lord, ‘I am the God of your fathers… and now come, I will send you to Egypt.’”

Forty years is a long time to wait for one’s marching orders, would you agree? As you know, Moses had been working for his father-in-law for forty years, ever since he fled from Egypt. We have no idea the degree to which he understood that his time away from Egypt was for a larger purpose. All we know is that forty years is a long time. Would you wait forty years? We tend to get agitated if we have to wait forty minutes, let alone forty years.

Yet in God’s way of working, waiting is an essential and unavoidable part of preparing one’s heart for God’s ultimate purposes for us. Waiting is hard, frustrating, discouraging, deflating and perplexing, while at the same time unavoidable. As Christians, our posture must be to embrace God’s hand during the “silent” periods of our lives, no matter how long they last. I came across a poem this week that was a blessing to me as it relates to waiting. It springs from the pen of J. Danson Smith. I think you will be blessed as well.

“Waiting! Yes patiently waiting!
Till next steps made plain will be;
To hear with the inner hearing
The voice that will call for me.

Waiting! Yes, hopefully waiting!
With hope that need not grow dim;
The Master is pledged to guide me,
And my eyes are unto him.

Waiting! Expectantly waiting!
Perhaps it may be today;
The Master will quickly open
The gate to my future way.

Waiting! Yes waiting! Still waiting!
I know, though I’ve waited long;
That while he upholds his purpose,
His waiting cannot be wrong.

Waiting! Yes waiting! Still waiting!
The Master will not be late;
Since he knows that I am waiting
For him to unlatch the gate.”

Some of us this morning are waiting, and we don’t particularly like it. Would you allow these words to bless your heart as they have done mine?