Tick, Tock

Timing, His, Not Mine

I Think that timing takes on a whole new meaning for a believer. In a very real sense time is something that “goes too quickly”, especially as we get older. “Oh, if I could rewind the clock”. It’s as though we blink and years have gone by. We are never quite content with the idea of time because when on the one hand we say “slow down”, it is on the other that we plead “speed up”. I believe it is in the good times that we say “slow down”, and in times of suffering that we are ready for “godspeed”. It is in the abyss of the unknown where the “tick-tock” moves a bit callously in the midst of our circumstances. David asked “How long O Lord?” And so do we. I think the verse that comes to mind is the one where we wait upon the Lord “more than watchmen wait for the morning”. It is repeated twice, probably because the psalmists eagerness and anticipation was so great. Think about having a job as a watchmen. I’m sure that it was very isolating. The whole world seemed to sleep as you lie awake. At first, perhaps as with all jobs, the man was awake, alert, ready for the night to fall. Then, as the night wore on, their bodies grew weary, their eyelids longed to close. It might have seemed as though dawn would never come. It was never there job to bring the sun, as they were of course, helpless to do so. But it always did. And so, they waited. Eagerly. Expectantly. Anticipating. Because the sun always comes.

Is not our nights often the same? Do we not begin bravely, boldly, when trouble comes,or when we await an answer, but as time wears on, perhaps grow disheartened? Tired? Weary? And it seems as though the whole world “sleeps”. When, in suffering, no matter to what extent, no matter what question we bring before the Lord, how small or how big, it might just be that it comes to the place where we do what we can…we pray, we work, we persevere…, but there is often a greater task…that of waiting. And though it is dark, and and the night feels like forever, we wait because He has told us to. But we don’t wait sulkingly, kicking the dirt beneath our feet. We wait expectantly. For we are not mere watchmen. We are children, awaiting a Father who watches us unceasingly. We wait because the Son always comes.