I hate waiting! We live in a society that hates waiting. The faster the better. It’s especially obvious for me when I’m on the computer. I want the fastest processor available and I want the wait time to be micro-seconds! When it’s time to eat, I want my food when I want my food. Like the rest of us, I want what I want and I want it now!
Habakkuk knows what that’s like, but his impatience is for something much more nobler than mine. He wants the fulfillment of God’s promises now. His “vision” of God’s putting the world right is what he’s longing for and yearning for and he wants it now. There’s been enough evil and injustice in the world. He calls for its resolution now! Habakkuk 2:2-4 gives us God’s response to his impatience. God consoles him in verse 3, “wait for it. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come.”
I’m truly an impatient, restless person. When I have to stop and stare at the screen for a few minutes, or even seconds, for the process to complete, I get restless. Yet, slowing down and waiting is part of the human condition. I like how Henri Nouwen talked about waiting. He said, “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.” Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 8:24 is a perfect expression of the positive aspects associated with not getting what we want when we want it. He says, “Waiting does not diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting.” In our hours, days, and months of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us.
Chuck
“The just shall live by faith.” Habakkuk 2:4