The Discipline of Disillusionment. The Discipline of Waiting. Part 2

**Note: Please read Part 1 first

There is a season of Preparation. So many times during my tenure as a faculty member at Southeastern University I assured my students that Preparation is as important as Mission since Mission depends on Preparation. And I think that God affirms that season of Preparation, or Waiting, or Lingering or A Pause, or whatever term you give to it; since He longs to find us faithful in those most difficult, excruciating periods of our lives when all that happens seems to be

…nothing.

But it has been said, “When nothing seems to be happening. With God something’s happening.” We are so prone to think, as I have previously alluded, that God has passed us by. And it is too easy to begin to feel like a second class citizen of the kingdom and it is too easy to neglect whatever God has to pass on to us during those excruciating moments in which we just wait, in which we only linger, in which for all the world, time is winning, and we are losing.

Recently an intern of mine complained to me that God was taking His sweet old time fulfilling what she knew to be true, that which she knew He had promised her husband and her. And that little season went far beyond just waiting. She recently experienced a miscarriage, and I think only a woman can appreciate how excruciating an experience like this can be, and how long it takes to find some sort of emotional closure. And as my former intern and her husband

…continued to wait,

and in their case the wait involved a particular vocation and enhanced livelihood they so desperately hoped for and needed. But in spite of her secret complaints and disillusionment with me,

…she waited

and hoped against hope,

…and lingered.

But this is just an example of millions of delayed expectations, and disillusionments. Such a long, dark period of time when answers have alluded us, and time was marching past.

You have your own example. I have my own example. I recall that time of preparation which proceeded the opportunity I was given to counsel literally thousands of individuals, couples and families. And oh, the fruit of my labors. Oh, the outcome of my preparation. But oh, the struggle and oh, sometimes the disillusionment which accompanied waiting.

Has God spoken anything to you? Has He promised you anything? Are you in the process of Waiting, (and sometimes my friends, waiting seems anything but a process since the very word “process” implies a deliberate march towards a certain outcome.)

In my own life today, I find myself waiting. Waiting for what comes next. For I am in a period of transition. Beyond all the unforeseen circumstances that have accompanied my wife and I the past year and the potential disillusionment which results from such stuff, the opportunity I had to teach at the university level has passed, the counseling ministry where I did my best work and labored for over two decades has seemingly slipped from my grasp, and the matter is still unknown and unwritten whether or not I will continue to provide a formal intern program to a new generation of young people.

Like you,

…I wait.

Like you, I wonder.

But in closing, let me encourage you. Seasons such as this may inspire doubt, disillusionment, despair, discouragement and depression. It’s easy to become depressed just repeating all those words which begin with “D”

But don’t doubt. If anything doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs. Don’t become disillusioned, Don’t despair, Don’t give way to discouragement, Don’t give sway to depression.

I find myself praying on a daily basis that God would clarify His will for the last quarter of my life on earth. What is the rest of my destiny? I am determined to find out, and I think He is just as determined to share this information with me.

What are you waiting for?

We reflect once more on the words of Habakkuk.

For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

it speaks of the end

and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it;

It will certainly come

and will not delay.

(By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Wednesday Night Teachings" Vol. 1)

 

**Note: I cannot guess what God has in store for you, nor for anyone who has made a conscious decision to place their lives in His providential care. Nor can you or I be certain that He might clarify His plans, and we may discover whatever we presumed isn't altogether what He has in mind for us. However, we can be sure that God's plans are better than our own, that He desires what's best for us, and that His love for us reaches beyond our frail understanding of His will.