The Waiting Place
Lamentations 3:19-32[1]
Most of us are familiar with the classic by Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” It’s a wonderfully encouraging look at life’s journey. The idea is that, especially when you’re starting out, you really can’t even begin to imagine the places your journey will take you. And the theme is that “Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.” But then, of course, he adds, “Except when you don't. Because, sometimes, you won't.” And one of those times he mentions is when you find yourself in what he calls “The Waiting Place.” The “Waiting Place” is for people “Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow.” Even Dr. Suess calls the “Waiting Place” a “most useless place.”[2]
We’re not a people who like to wait. For anything. It’s
irritating at best, because time spent waiting seems like wasted time to us. At
worst it can be infuriating, because nothing brings out the worst in us quicker
than having our plans or expectations thwarted. And waiting is one of those
things that can definitely thwart our plans! Our instant economy has spoiled us.
We’re used to getting whatever we want right when we want it. If we do have to
wait, we tend to take out a smartphone or another device and dive into the
screen. The idea of just waiting quietly and patiently seems to be a foreign
concept to us.
But waiting is part of life. And through the ages, those
who have taught us the most about what it means to “walk humbly with our God”
have made it clear that learning how to “wait for the Lord” plays a central
role in spiritual growth, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.[3] In the
Bible, “waiting” is an expression of faith. We “wait for the Lord” in faith
because we recognize that much of our lives is out of our control. But more
than that, we “wait for the Lord” because that’s how we grow stronger in our
faith. It’s a bit like the concept of leaving a portion of the ground fallow
for a season as a means of restoring and enriching the soil. Or the fact that
in Winter, trees that appear to have gone “dormant” are doing some of their
most important growing. They’re sending down roots to seek out nutrients,
growing deeper and stronger underground while it may seem to us like not much
is happening. Waiting for the Lord is how we send down deeper roots to grow
stronger in faith.
The prophet Jeremiah knew about the value of waiting for
the Lord, as we saw in our lesson from Lamentations for today. Much of Lamentations
is not particularly uplifting. It came from a bitter time in the history of the
people of Israel. The Babylonians had invaded the land, and the city of
Jerusalem was under siege. The famine that resulted led to shocking atrocities.
When he looked around, what he saw was his nation in ruins, his beloved city of
Jerusalem besieged, and his people seemingly abandoned by God. Much of the
earlier part of Lamentations contains the outpouring of his grief. At the end
of it all, he could say, “Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is
lost!” (Lam 3:18, NLT). Imagine the prophet Jeremiah saying that! It
sounds like he had given up not only his hope, but also his faith!
But the prophet turned a corner precisely when all seemed
lost. Although he could say that he would never forget that “awful time,” he remembers
the most fundamental affirmation about God in the Bible, the bedrock of faith:
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great
is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (Lam 3:22-23, NLT).
It’s phrased in different ways in different verses, but this is the essential
expression of faith in the Bible: God’s love never ends, and we can always
count on him to be faithful. So, despite all the bitterness and the grief Jeremiah
had been through, he could hold onto his faith: “I still dare to hope” (Lam
3:21, NLT).
We might wonder what made it possible for him to have such
a dramatic change of heart—from “everything is lost” to “I still dare to hope.”
If we listen carefully, he tells us. It wasn’t some spectacular vision from
God, nor was it the presence of an angel that gave him new hope. The situation
hadn’t changed. What changed was his attitude. And he made that change by
waiting for the Lord. I think he show this was what made the difference when he
affirms that “it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord” (Lam
3:26, NLT). To be sure, waiting for the Lord is no easier than any other
waiting. In fact, it may be harder! We may often suffer from doubt or anxiety.
But what makes it “good” to “wait quietly” for the Lord is that’s how we learn
that “no one is abandoned by the Lord forever” (Lam 3:31, NLT). I
think in light of what the New Testament teaches, I would say that “no one is abandoned
by the Lord ever”!
We live in a world of “perpetual motion,” 24/7/365, year after year! “Waiting” is what we do when we’re helpless to change the situation. We “wait” only when it’s the only option. “Waiting” calls to mind boredom, or anxiety, or restlessness. But in the Bible, “waiting” for the Lord refers to a posture of trust. To “wait” for the Lord in the Bible refers to trusting God’s unfailing and faithful love when everything in life seems to have given way. This may remind you of one of my favorite hymns: “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” I suspect that some of you may share that opinion. You may know that it’s based on this passage. It might seem surprising that such a wonderful encouraging hymn could come from such a bleak and dismal situation. But if you look at it from the biblical perspective, it’s not surprising at all. With all due respect to Dr. Seuss, the “Waiting Place” is not a “most useless place” after all. In fact, it may be one of the most useful places for growing our faith. That’s because the “Waiting Place” is where we learn again that God is faithful always! Always has been, always will be. It’s where we learn again that God is always for us, never against us. It’s where we learn again that God loves us with a love that never fails, no matter what.[4]
[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, PhD on 6/30/2024 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! 1990.
[3] Cf. Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out, 91: “Waiting
… is the foundation of the spiritual life” (quoted from Simone Weil, First and Last Notebook).
[4] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1,
385: “[God] is wholly Himself and true to Himself in the fact that he is true
to us.”
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