Waiting Around

According to the calendar it’s March, and for me that always means two things: college basketball and spring time.

 It always seems to go hand-in-hand that as the college basketball season winds down it starts to warm up outside. It’s always one of the best times of the year, in my mind, because it means the end of the long, cold winter. However, where I sit this morning it doesn’t look very springy out there. It’s cold, wet, and bleak. To say I’m not happy is a little bit of an understatement. There is not a whole lot in life that frustrates me more than waiting around for the warmth and beauty of spring with nothing to show for it. (I know I sound petty and whiny, but, “Hey, I’m cold!”)

I think the most difficult thing in waiting for this release from the evil clutches of winter is what has been promised. Spring is the promise for enduring the long, hard winter. And, when it hesitates to reveal itself (at least from my perspective) it is exasperating. I know it’s coming, but when?

God has promised you certain things in your life. The promise that comes for enduring the trials and difficulties of this life while remaining faithful and vigilant. The problem is, the promise sometimes lingers in its fulfillment. At least from our perspective.

 The Jews had been promised a messiah and, in their mind, God was definitely tarrying. They had waited and waited for the spring time of their deliverance and it still looked cold outside. Paul speaks to this in Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

 That first phrase is important. God knows what we need and when we need it. But even more than that, when He does finally fulfill the promise in our lives the payout will be greater than we could ever imagine. The Jews were waiting to be subjects in the new kingdom of God and, yet, look. God doesn’t make them just subjects, but heirs! Whoa! That’s quite an upgrade.

What promise are you waiting on from God? What release do you need? Where is a place in your life that you are seeking freedom? Not that it will necessarily make the wait any easier, but remember that the promise will come in God’s fullness of time, and it will be better than you can imagine. Use the wait to focus on Him, not the promise (although He is ultimately the promise). Trust Him. Know His presence in the valley. And, before you realize it, the new life that comes with Spring will be here.  


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