Faith in Waiting

Our current hurtle related to our move to Everett is in waiting to sell the house.  It has been on the market for 2 weeks now, but we haven't had anyone look at it in a week.  This has been discouraging to us for a variety of reasons, but primarily because we are looking toward what is coming.  We have a house picked out in Everett which also still hasn't sold.  The owners will not do a contract with us as long as our current house hasn't sold, so we wait.  We also are without options in moving forward without selling this house since we don't have enough money to put down on a purchase now.  Essentially, we are boxed in and believe the Lord is leading us down a very specific path that only He can orchestrate.  We are praying that the Lord will continue to reserve that house for us and that He will send the right buyer at the right time. 

The Lord has been reminding us about what it means to have faith.  Hebrews 11:1 says:   

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

In thinking about people in the Bible who had to wait, I see many:

• Abram was told that he would have a child and that his decendents would be "as numerous as the stars in the sky."  Yet Abraham waited for many years before his wife was able to have a child for him. 
• Noah was told to build an ark because a flood was coming.  The ark took him 100 years to build and when he finished it, the flood came.  He likely endured a lot of doubt over those 100 years.
• The Israelites had to wait before taking the city of Jericho.  They had to march around the city for 6 days, and on the 7th day they had to march 7 times and blow trumpets and shout at the end.  Only then did the walls come down.
• David was crowned king by the Lord, but had to wait for years and years in exile, even living in caves and in towns occupied by the enemies of Israel.  Although he was given numerous opportunities to kill king Saul, whom the Lord had rejected, he chose instead to wait on the Lord's provision.
• Joseph was shown that he would be a great leader and that his family would be subservient to him.  However he was soon sold into slavery by his brothers.  After working his way out of slavery he had a position of status in the house of his master, only to be falsely accused of trying to take advantage of his master's wife.  He was thrown into prison and stayed there for several years.  He was only made second in command of Egypt after a 13 year wait.
• Moses waited in the desert tending sheep for 40 years prior to being called to assist in setting his people free from slavery in Egypt.
• Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus as he was pursuing Christians so that he could throw them in prison.  He was struck blind, told to go into Damascus, and wait.  He waited 3 days in his blindness before the Lord sent a messenger to free him from it.
• The disciples had to wait 3 days to see Jesus resurrected from the dead.  Although He had told them He would die and be raised to life, they had to experience a wait prior to that happening.

There are literally too many examples of waiting in the scriptures to list them all here.  Yet a pattern emerges:  God calls the person, gives them some information, and then somewhere in there they have to wait on Him to clear the path for them.  In each case, God received the glory from it because He himself did it and the person did not.   Waiting is normal, but it is not easy.

Now we have to confront the issue of faith. 

If you have little faith, little will happen.

• Matthew 13- When visiting his hometown, Jesus noted that the people there did not believe he was the Messiah.  As a result, "he only did a few miracles there because of their unbelief." 
• Matthew 17- Jesus' own disciples were unable to cast out a demon.  Jesus noted their lack of faith.
• James 2- 
  
  ¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
  ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

If you have much faith, much will happen. 

• Matthew 9- Jesus healed a woman who had been dealing with a physical illness for many years.  He commented that "her faith had made her well."
• Matthew 15- The faith of a Gentile woman caused Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter.
• Mark 10- Jesus heals a blind man, commenting that "his faith had made him well."
• Luke 7- A Roman centurion's servant was healed from a distance by Jesus.  Jesus commented that he "had not seen faith like this in all of Israel."

The Lord has an extensive track record of giving us some details to get us moving and then making us wait on something.  The wait develops the faith, because "faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen."  You have no evidence.  There appears to be no progress being made.  And yet our Lord is working behind the scenes on our behalf, only asking that we wait on Him and put our very hope in Him.  At this point, your actions matter.  Will you work yourself to death trying to make things happen on your own?  That didn't work for Abram, who conceived a child with his wife's servant during his wait, even though the Lord had made it clear that his wife would have the child.  Or alternatively, will you wait, pray, and hope? 

May the Lord receive glory for what He does in making our move happen.  While we periodically struggle with discouragement and impatience, He has also set things up to where only He can deliver us through this storm.  He is a great God.