We often approach life expecting immediate results from our actions. And we tend to assume something is wrong when this doesn’t take place. But often there is a waiting period before we can see fully how everything is going to work out. And it takes a lot of faith to wait in this unknown.
For instance, conception is not immediately followed by birth. A couple must wait through the pregnancy before meeting their new little one.
And spring does not immediately follow summer. We must also wait through the fall and winter months before new life emerges again.
And even Christ was not raised to new life immediately after dying on the cross. There was a Holy Saturday of waiting – and from the outside, waiting in the unknown.
Of course, we can look back at the story of Christ and clearly see it includes Easter Sunday, just as we can clearly observe seasonal patterns and reasonably predict the timing of birth.
But those first followers of Jesus did not yet understand about the resurrection on that Holy Saturday. From their perspective, all their hopes died the day before with Jesus on the cross.
And this is similar to the disorientation we often experience. Perhaps we gave of ourselves and made many sacrifices, but it doesn’t seem like things are going to turn out as we had hope. And it doesn’t seem like we have anymore left to give.
Yet while we don’t know how things will turn out in our story, because of Christ we can wait through our unknowns with hope. The timing and particulars are in God’s hands, but our waiting is not in vain. He will bless us with new life again at just the right time.
To be sure, it’s hard to wait through the unknowns of life. But God is still at work and the story is not over yet. New life is on the way.
Photo by mehrdad ghadiri on Unsplash
