The Discipline of Disillusionment. The Discipline of Waiting. Part 1

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you once again tonight on what I think is a vital subject among believers. I have known many who have struggled with this particular issue through the years, including myself. Among a myriad of issues that thousands of my clients have brought into the counseling process over the past two decades, finances, grief, sexuality, depression, this particular topic finds itself somewhere near the top of the list.

I take the primary scripture verse for tonight’s topic from Habakkuk 2:3

 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.

And if, for a moment, we think of this issue as a discipline of sorts, there is that discipline of disillusionment. There is that sense that God has passed us by, that fairness has alluded us, that we are the only person on earth who

… waits.

What is it that you are waiting for?

Consider this subject with me. Let’s pause for a moment. Even that word “pause” conjures up the notion of waiting.

A lack of forward momentum.

Take a moment to reflect on whatever it is you are waiting for. Go ahead. I’ll be quiet. For the next, oh fifteen seconds consider what it is you are waiting for, and then breathe an inaudible prayer that God will fulfill his promise, (if indeed He has promised you something) or if you are merely waiting for God’s voice and God’s direction, tell Him so and ask Him to come to you in some manner and make His leading clear.

Our previous portion of scripture alludes to a revelation, as if God has indicated He has something in mind for you. What are you waiting for? Has He placed some definite, desperate thing inside of you that you are hoping against hope will come to pass? Have you waited for it, and has all His assurances seemed false and come up empty?

God reminds us in the foregoing verse to linger; to wait for it.

Imagine the great “I AM,” He Who was from the beginning, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and consider the One Who set the standard for waiting. Not only did He wait out a period of thousands of years after that His revelation of the Messiah was given by His prophets, (and no doubt the saints of the Old Testament wondered if they would be blessed to see Him come in their lifetime) and yet He lingered, and neither the Creator of the universe, nor His hopeful saints saw the fruit of their expectation immediately.

But more importantly in terms of our ability to identify with the great “I AM,” He Who was from the beginning, The King of Kings and Lords of Lords, He continued to serve as our role model for waiting when He came as a baby, and grew up among the family God the Father was pleased to provide Him. And in spite of a steady assurance that God had something special for Him, He learned submission, and there was a long and sometimes uninspiring period of growth and preparation, and the fulfillment of all that He had come to do

… lingered.

Imagine in human terms, for Christ has subjected Himself to time and space. He had limited Himself, whereas He had NEVER been limited before. He was subject to time, He was subject to whatever space God was pleased to place between Himself

…and the fulfillment of His mission.

Thirty long years, about which little is spoken in the New Testament. The so-called “Hidden Years” in which Jesus lived, and moved and breathed and of which we are given so little insight. Oh, we have the story of Jesus at the age of 12 when he spoke to the elders, and they came off impressed with this spiritually precocious lad, and in this we are given a wee bit of insight concerning that which is to come,

…but which awaits God’s perfect timing.

Thirty long years of preparation, all so that Jesus might be ushered into a ministry which consumed a tenth of His previous life on earth.

And I think that He must have encouraged Himself with scriptures like we find in Habakkuk. For His Father assured Him daily that, in Modern English, “Haven’t I said it? Haven’t you believed it? Did I change my mind? Am I oblivious to your prayer? Do I go out of my way to lie to you? Haven’t I promised and won’t I fulfill your expectation?”

(To be continued...)

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