We arrived at 8:15 a.m. for the 8:30 a.m. appointment, signed in, and sat down. Right around 8:30 a.m. they called Monica back. When they invited me to join her a half hour later, she was gowned in hospital attire with an needle in her arm. For the next hour or so she lay comfortably on the gurney as at least four different staff members passed through. At 10:15 a.m. she was wheeled away and I was dismissed back to the waiting room.
What do YOU do when you are in a waiting room? These days many people have a phone that occupies most of their attention. Along with my phone, I also had a novel and a notepad. I usually like to “people watch”, but that day I was alone in the waiting room most of the time. So I ask you again, what do YOU do when you are in a waiting room?
Generally speaking, only a few people are very good at – or enjoy – waiting. I don’t consider myself one of them. Fast food should be fast, with no waiting. Online orders should all have same-day delivery. If the appointment is for 3:00 p.m., then the doctor should walk in no later than 3:01 p.m. – and I should be walking out with the test results before 3:30 p.m.! And please, please do not let me wait with nothing but my thoughts for more than 15 minutes!
So I wonder how the disciples responded to Jesus when during those days following hisa resurrection Jesus “ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father”(Acts 1.4)? Forty days after Easter – and likely over thirty days after Jeus had told them to wait – we are told “When they had come together, they asked (Jesus), ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’” (Actis 1.6-9) And then, as you know, they had to wait another ten days for the Spirit to come!
It may be fun to speculate that they spent most of that time studying Scripture and praying, but about the only thing I can tell you for use is that – while they were waiting in that upper room – they were not on their cell phones!!
In Psalm 27 David gives us some very familiar and encouraging words. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27.1) However, he then goes on to describe the scary and troubling scenarios in which he lives (this seems to take up most of the psalm). Finally he prays, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies” (Psalm 27.11), and, as God seems to answer his prayer he concludes saying, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27.13-14) I think he realized that much of life is spent in the waiting room!
Now, if I might, allow me to take you to another view of this waiting room. Jesus takes us there in the upper room shortly before his betrayal. He says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14.2-3) As we listen to these words we might say that the entire earthly life of a believer is spent in the waiting room. This, of course, leads me back to the question asked earlier: What do YOU do while you are in the waiting room?
I must confess, that all too often I cry out with David, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” (Psalm 13.1-2) By God’s grace David discovered (and I may be slowly learning) that God is always at work in the waiting room … accomplishing his gracious will … in his timely way … according to his eternal wisdom. And that he does not tire of our whining (after all he gave us the words to whine with in this and many other psalms) … and even can use it to accomplish his good and gracious will.
As for the two of us that day, a couple minutes before 11:30 a.m. I heard my name called and was instructed to be at the east entrance with our van at 11:45 a.m. There I picked up Monica (with her encouraging lab results in hand) and we were home shortly after noon. And, for the rest of this day, I am going to be looking around and asking myself, “Now, what are YOU going to do in THIS waiting room today?” Somehow I think the answer might be found with those who wait on tables … or even with those who lift waits (pardon my spelling).
The Waiting Room
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