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With the season of advent being a time of waiting and preparation, I’m preparing a talk for Sunday evening on the theme of waiting, in particular looking at how John the Baptist was waiting for Jesus’ arrival.

But I’ve also found it interesting how I’ve been having to wait. The biggest thing at the moment is waiting to explore ordination. If I could, I’d get off to theological college now. But there are lots of reasons why that’s not practically possible. I’ve always thought as though these practical problems were barriers to me doing God’s work, but thinking about it, I’m starting to realise that God may actually want me to wait, and not rush into things.

My New Testament course has now moved on to Paul, and I didn’t realise that after his Damascus Road experience, Paul didn’t rush off straightway and become the missionary and apostle he’s known for. No, he spent time in Arabia, and then Cilicia and Syria just being – working, learning and growing – before he went on his first missionary journey. If Paul, the well-educated Pharisee who wrote a large chunk of the New Testament spent time in quiet preparation, I guess I certainly need to!

In Lamentations, we read “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:25-26). So yes, we need to hope in the Lord, yes we need to seek Him, but we also need to be patient, and wait for Him.