Are We There Yet?预览

Power Displays Along the Way

Many sermons and devotional material about seasons of waiting refer to the Israelites’ time in the wilderness, and with good reason. They waited forty years for an outcome that could have taken a few weeks. But like Elijah, the Israelites’ waiting season was not a time of nothingness as we often perceive it to be. God’s glory was on display on many spectacular occasions.

I am sure there would have been no questions asked if the Jordan river was dry when the Israelites finally reached it (Joshua 3). They might have realized that God had provided for them like so many times before, and that would be the end of it. But God decided to put on a power display one last time during their waiting season. “Then Joshua told the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5, NLT).

As we read the story, God seems even more excited than the Israelites about the end of their waiting season. He was certainly not going to let it pass quietly! “The Lord told Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses... Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River!’” (Joshua 3:11, NLT). No wonder the great event was happening in the harvest season while Jordan was overflowing its banks (Joshua 3:15). It made for an even more spectacular power display!

In the New Testament, another divine power display took place while the whole world was waiting. On the day that Jesus saved mankind from sin, God could have done it in any way He chose. Jesus could have been struck by lightning or beaten to death with one massive blow. But instead, it took many excruciating hours on the cross. “At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock” (Matthew 27:45, NLT). And then, the moment the whole earth has been waiting for since its creation was there.

“Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead” (Matthew 27:50-52, NLT). Wow!

Do you believe that God would like to celebrate the end of your waiting season with you? Which displays of God’s power have you experienced so far while you were waiting?

Let us turn our waiting into a season of anticipation. Let us rejoice at every divine power displayed along the way of our waiting seasons. “Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!” (Isaiah 40:5, NLT).