DIVINE DELAYS: WHEN THE CLOUD LINGERS

…all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come – Job 14:14b

“I … think of “the cloud” – the symbol of the Presence in Israel’s midst and the means by which God’s people were led through the wilderness.

Moses had this to say about the cloud: “Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days” (Numbers 9:20); other times the cloud “remained over the tabernacle a long time” (9:19) – several days, a month, a year – and God’s people waited and waited…

WAITING is hard. We twiddle our thumbs, shuffle our feet, stifle our yawns and fret inwardly in frustration. We want to hit the road…

…We want to put miles behind us, see new sights. Change, interest, excitement! That’s the life! But the cloud lingers and so do we. We feel trapped by drab routine, day in and day out, the monotonous grind, the same ol’, same ol’.

We writhe under our frustration and helplessness. “This is no place to grow,” we complain. “What chance do I have to develop my full potential? What opportunity do I have to accomplish great things?” “Haven’t I endured enough?” we ask. “Haven’t I learned the lesson of this place?” “Isn’t it time to move on?”

“No,” is often the answer. The cloud lingers and we make no progress at all – or so it seems to us. But what seems so is not what so is. Without delay we could never make the most of our lives. It’s one of the ways God effects the ends on which He has set His heart…

WAITING is the time for soul-making, the time to develop the quieter virtues – submission, humility, patience, endurance, persistence. The quiet virtues take the longest to learn, are the last to be learned, and, it seems, can only be learned through GOD’s DELAYS, the very thing we’re most inclined to resist.

We mustn’t resist and we mustn’t grow restless. We must wait before we make a change by some rash and wilful act – before we give notice to a difficult employer, before we walk out on a hard marriage, trash a disappointing friendship, or make some other irrevocable decision. We must wait to make the next move. We’ll know when it’s time to go. God will make the change in plenty of time.

In the meantime we should look into each day for its disciplines, learning its deeper lessons of faith and obedience and yielding to God’s efforts to change us rather than our circumstances. The extent to which we do so will determine the extent to which His purposes are achieved in us, or are thwarted.”