Waiting on the Lord: Reflections on Acts 1

Over the last few weeks, I have contemplated extensively the notion of waiting upon the Lord. It all began when I read Psalm 130 during my personal Bible study. About the same time, I started studying to preach for Ascension Sunday. If you are not familiar with this term, it refers to the Sunday closest to the Thursday forty days after Easter that the Church commemorates the ascension of Christ. It was appropriate, then, that we studied Acts 1:12-26, which records what the church did during those ten days between the Ascension and Pentecost. That is, it records the church fulfilling Jesus’ command, issued in Acts 1:4, to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit.

I will be the first to admit that I struggle to wait. As a child of twenty-first century American culture, I like fast food, fast vehicles, and fast spirituality. In fact, I am ashamed to admit that, when my internet connection slowed this week to a crawl, I more than once screamed in frustration. No, waiting is not easy. Yet, waiting on the Lord accomplishes three things in me.

First, when I wait on the Lord, I eventually surrender my agenda. In Acts 1:6, Jesus’ disciples expected him to restore the political kingdom of Israel. This made a lot of sense. For five centuries, Jews had been looking for someone to deliver them from their oppressors. Jesus performed numerous miracles throughout his life and ministry. Then, after he was subjected to the ultimate demonstration of Roman power, crucifixion, he came back from the dead. Surely, he would now wipe the oppressors off the map! And if Jesus was to be king of the new kingdom of Israel, then his disciples would surely be his most prominent officials. Yet, when the Holy Spirit arrived ten days later, none of the disciples mentioned any of this. Why?

I would submit it is because the time they spent waiting on the Lord loosened their grip on the things they thought they understood and wanted. Each day they prayed for God’s will to be done, they were less concerned about getting their own will. Each day they spent watching for the Holy Spirit, they were less interested in doing things their own way. Each day they waited on the Lord, they were more committed to doing God’s will God’s way, even though they were not sure what any of that was, and the same remains true for me today. When I wait on the Lord, I eventually surrender my agenda.

Second, when I wait for the Lord, I surrender my timing. In Acts 1:6, we can almost feel the disciples’ excitement. To say that they were eager for Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel would be a gross understatement. After five hundred years of waiting, the consolation of Israel could not come quickly enough. Now, forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, they could sense that something was about to happen. Surely, this was it! But then, instead of sweeping away the Romans, Jesus ascended into heaven, and they were compelled to recognize that their timing was not the same as his. Why was that a big deal?

It was a big deal because waiting on God’s timing requires patience. In the garden of Genesis 1-2, patience was unnecessary. There was no mention of time, date, or even season. There was no anxiety or dread, no boredom or busy-ness. Because there was no concern regarding death or harvest, etc., there was only the natural, relaxed rhythm of evening and morning, evening and morning, day after day after day. When sin entered the equation, though, everything in creation gained an expiration date, and suddenly, time mattered. As the following generations grew shorter, time grew increasingly important, and as it did, impatience became increasingly common. Unless Jesus returns, my life will be a fraction of the length of Adam’s and Eve’s, my schedule is crammed with infinitely more activity than theirs, and patience is certainly not my forté. Yet, Paul identified patience as the fourth component of the fruit of the Spirit, suggesting that I need patience, and I learn it only by waiting on the Spirit.

It was a big deal also because I am inclined to want things right now. I am, after all, a temporal creature locked into a specific timeframe. My remembrance of the past fades, and my knowledge of the future is speculative at best. What I have right now is concrete and real, but for everything else, I need a degree of faith. Like patience, however, faith is contrary to my natural inclination. I are much more comfortable when things are settled and sure and that which was promised is firmly in hand. Yet, Paul again identified faith as part of the fruit of the Spirit, suggesting that I must learn to trust God’s promises, and I will only do that when I must wait a bit. Only then will I relinquish the hustle that characterizes so much of my life. Only then will I be able to relinquish the rush.

Finally, when I wait for the Lord, I must surrender my independence. Indeed, when Jesus told his disciples in Acts 1:8 that they were to become his witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, they no doubt wondered why they had to wait. They saw what Jesus did, heard what Jesus said, and knew who Jesus was. Moreover, he had already commissioned them on at least two separate occasions to proclaim the gospel. Surely, they could handle this on their own. However, waiting on the Holy Spirit drove home two important truths.

First, it drove home the fact that they could not handle the mission on their own. Sure, they could recount Jesus’ teachings and regail people with stories from their time with him, but by the end of Acts 2, every one of the disciples recognized that their efforts alone would have been woefully insufficient. What changed? The Holy Spirit filled them, emboldened them, and equipped them to minister in ways they never could have on their own.

Second, it ensured that they could not steal God’s glory. Consider what would have happened if they had gone out on their own. They would have shared some great stories and maybe even joined the ranks of respected teachers who roamed the first-century countryside. They would have been honored as good storytellers and teachers, but people would have had no compelling reason to follow Jesus, much less give him glory.

This is perhaps the most important lesson that I must learn by waiting on the Lord. I like to think I can do life and ministry on my own, but when I wait for the Holy Spirit, I am compelled to recognize that this is a lie. Yes, I have talent and personality and numerous other things that God can use to advance his kingdom, but I need the Holy Spirit to truly accomplish his mission. The Spirit is the single most important thing.

Understanding that I must wait on the Lord so I can adequately surrender my agenda, timing, and independence is crucial, but it is, of course, easier said than done. I have been a Christian well more than half of my life. In fact, in a few weeks, I will have been the pastor of my church for half of my life! Yet, this is still a lesson that I must revisit and re-learn every time I am compelled to wait.