There might not be any greater display of power than the power it takes to raise the dead to life. For the earliest believers, it had to be a jolt just to be close to the power displayed in Jesus.
That mighty "lightning bolt" has been seen and heard through the centuries and can be seen and heard still in the lives of Jesus-followers today.
That's good news; especially if you're in need of a jolt of God's power today.
While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 1:4-5
No one likes waiting. We wait for so many things – from restaurant tables and gas pumps to graduation and the chance to be noticed by that special someone. You’d think we’d grow used to it, but we don’t. As one song puts it, “The waiting is the hardest part.”
The disciples learned this lesson after Jesus’ ascension. Energized by his resurrection, they were ready to take on the world. Wasn’t their mission to make disciples of all nations? Why this wait?
Of course, Jesus had a reason. He knew their mission would be more than they could handle alone, and so he instructed them to wait for the Spirit. I sometimes wonder why. Couldn’t the Spirit have come immediately? Weren’t those weeks wasted?
I can’t answer those questions, just as I can’t always answer why I wait now. What I can do is trust God’s timing, even as I wait for Jesus to return. To paraphrase the same song, I take it on faith, take it to the heart, but the waiting is the hardest part.
Joshua Hays
God of perfect timing, forgive me when I grow impatient. Forgive me when I want to rush your plans. Teach me patience and trust in your wisdom even when I don’t understand why things take so long. Amen.
Feel the power that rises beneath you,
Raising you up to embrace the life
That God intends for you to know.
Carry yourself, then, with humble confidence,
Aware that it is the very hand of God
That holds you upright and alive.