Lent as Waiting
Journeying over the waves with Noah
For forty days the rain fell on the earth as Noah and his family watched aboard the ark. Slowly, the beautiful but sin-cursed world was sheathed with water until all was hidden from view. For 150 days after this, the ark edged over the waters of the earth. The weary rocking of the boat back and forth upon the waves. Dull and interminable views in all directions. The tiresome work of caring for animals and the boat. And then the monotonous waiting.
I imagine the waiting might have been the most difficult for Noah and all on board. When would the rain and flooding conclude? When would God act to restore the earth? How many days would this animal barge ride the waves before land could once again be visible and bring stability underfoot? And perhaps that most basic question children ask on long roadtrips: “Are we there yet?”
Waiting is also perhaps one of the most difficult things in our lives. Waiting for results from a medical test. Waiting for a friend to come for the weekend. Waiting for a job offer during unemployment. Waiting for answers to prayers and questions we voice deep within.
The journey of Lent is at least partially a journey of waiting. Our world ached with unknown waiting when Jesus came as the Messiah. Paul the Apostle tells us, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4). This sending at the fullness of time was aimed at the heart of human and cosmic need:
And being found in appearance as a human,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7b-8)
But until then, there was waiting and longing and watching for God’s chosen One.
Our Lenten journey today is also characterized by waiting. We remember and once again enter into the waiting of the earth for a Savior who will decisively usher in God’s ways and God’s kingdom on earth. This journey is also one of waiting for God to act in our own lives. God’s timetable, as many often say, is not our own. Knowing such a thing to be true does not necessarily make our waiting any easier.
We still wait. We wait for relief, for our needs to be meet, for deliverance, for friendship, for freedom, for…something or anything.
But in all our waiting, we come to the Living God who is both active and at peace, who is both at work and still, who both is ahead of us and is waiting with us. Like Noah and all on the boat, like all the sisters and brothers who have walked the Lenten journey before us, we enter into the contemplative waiting and readiness of obedience. From that place we pray from the depths of our souls the psalmist’s words:
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:1-3)