"Just Wait"

MARSHALL EICHMANN - 2014 - Wait - Glencoe

Three of us took a journey to the creek to see a platypus. In a number of places we saw ripples and a little shadow and through the top of the water all we could see of the head was the bill. We went, hoping to see more than that. One of us returned back to the grounds, but we stayed on, two of us, and we crossed to the other side and the light was behind us and you could see into the water a little better. We sat on the bank silent and completely still and we waited.

When you are quiet and still you start to take in other beauties in God’s natural creation: little flowers of different colours and shades, little birds. You see and hear in the reeds lots of little beauties, but as we waited we saw ripples and a platypus stopped in front of us. It looked up at us and we could see all of it. We could see just what it was like. We were so glad we had stayed there and waited. That is the message that has been on my heart this week: “just wait”, wait and there will be so much reward.

John 20. On the resurrection morn when Mary and others went to the tomb seeking Jesus who had already risen, there was a number that went. When they found He was not there they returned home, but Mary stayed and waited and she was weeping as she waited and as she waited she was so rewarded. Not only did her Saviour appear and speak to her by name, she also communed with two angels from Heaven. There was nowhere else to go and nobody else could help her in her sorrow and tears.

There was only One and that was Jesus, because she simply waited. “Be still and know that I am God.” We can rest in that thought these days, that God is God; rest in this thought that God is above and knows all things about us, our sorrow and tears, and He alone can help us as we just quietly wait and allow Him to draw near and help us. He will not fail us. Maybe we feel He has not spoken to us but He will not fail us. He will speak in His time and meet that need.

Ruth 3, “Sit still my daughter until thou see how the matter will fall.” Boaz loved Ruth and he wasn’t going to rest that day until Ruth was where she was meant to be, until she was with who she was meant to be with. Jesus is not going to rest until we are where we are meant to be, that is, safe within His care. He is not going to let us go away without being brought safely into His care again. John 21:4, “I go a fishing.” The other disciples went also. There was a fire of coals. Jesus had not just arrived there but He had sat there with that fire burning all night, His heart towards them, longing that they would return. He could not rest while they were out there in all their efforts, not having any victory. When the new day broke, there He was, waiting for them.

Sometimes we are in night experiences and there are many tears at the beginning of the day when we go to God in prayer, tears throughout the day, and at the end of the day when we know we have not been what we should have been. But we can rest in this thought that as one day closes, when another day opens and the dawn breaks, our Saviour will be there waiting for us. He is not going to forsake us, He will be there waiting for us. There was a fire of coals there and fish laid thereon. There was provision in that fire.

This fire in the heart of our Saviour is an eternal flame, not some new thing. It is without beginning and without end and down through the ages there has been many a distress, broken heart, a weary and troubled heart that has been warmed and cheered and helped by this eternal flame. There has been many a hard and cold heart that has been softened and warmed by this eternal flame. How are we responding to this flame of love these days as we sit in these meetings? The same flame that hardens the clay melts and softens the wax. How are we responding to this flame? Are we softening, is there a sweetness? Jesus knows all things, all that has been our past, all we are in the midst of.

When Jesus was on the cross, there was darkness over all the land. His Father’s face was turned from Him, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There was no answer, silence, but God didn’t fail Him. It wasn’t very long and it was the resurrection morn, the ascension into Heaven, and Heaven was waiting for Him beyond the cross and the anguish. He is waiting for us and He has a home in Heaven for you and me and He knows what we need to go through to be in that place.