THE WAITING TIME
It is very desirable that exercises should be completed; but sometimes we have to wait, and I am thinking of the importance of the waiting time. The persons we have read about in Acts 1 were waiting. The Lord told them, according to Luke 24: 49, to “remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high”. In verse 4 of the chapter from which we read, the Lord “commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which said he ye have heard of me”. These persons therefore were waiting for something to be completed.
The idea of waiting is interesting, because the whole dispensation of Christianity is, in a certain sense, a waiting time. It comes between the Lord leaving His own and His return. What saints have waited for right down through more than nineteen centuries has been the Lord’s return; therefore, in a broad sense, we are in a waiting time. The waiting time is the time of testimony, the time of learning, the time of growth. When the waiting time is over we will have no more part in testimony as we have now, and there will be no more growth. Therefore the waiting time is a very important time. Our period of active testimony is a very short one. Some who have gone before us in the great testimony of God had their part for a much longer time in the testimony. Enoch, for instance, walked with God for three hundred years. Others in that line of testimony in Genesis chapter 5 lived many years and had their part in the testimony for centuries. Our time is quite brief, but it is very important.
Now besides the general idea of being in a waiting time there are certain exercises in which we have to wait for completion. Certain of our brethren have exercises they carry in prayer every day before God, and there are household exercises. There are local exercises, matters which have been outstanding for months; there seems to be as yet no solution and therefore we are in a waiting time; but the Lord intends that the waiting time should be profitable, that spiritual gain should come during the waiting time. The Lord Himself waits. When He was here He could say prophetically “I waited patiently for Jehovah; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry”, Ps 40: 1. Think of the Lord Jesus as a dependent Man waiting on God! Even in His present position He is waiting. Paul writes to the Thessalonians of “the patience of the Christ”, 2 Thess 3: 5. He is waiting the moment of which we sometimes sing: ‘the Father’s perfect time’, when the Spirit’s work will be completed and the assembly will be raptured to be with Him for ever.
What is specially in mind is the waiting time in relation to certain exercises. The persons here “gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer”. It does not say what they were praying about. Later in this chapter, when they were to appoint one to replace Judas, there was specific prayer; but “these gave themselves ... to continual prayer” is not a specific request being made; it is an attitude. How comely for us in the waiting time to have the attitude of prayer! “Pray unceasingly”, Paul exhorts (1 Thess 5: 17); that would be an attitude of implicit confidence in and dependence on God. “These gave themselves ... to continual prayer”; the waiting time was a profitable time, it was a time when persons were ready and became suited vessels to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
In chapter 9 of this book Saul of Tarsus “was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank” (v 9); he was waiting. Ananias had to be adjusted. He was a pious man, he was a disciple, no doubt one who carried some responsibility in Damascus, but he had to be adjusted, and Saul of Tarsus had to wait while Ananias was being adjusted. The Lord said to him “Seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, he is of Tarsus: for, behold, he is praying”. Saul of Tarsus spent the waiting time in prayer. It does not say what he was praying for; he was in that attitude of prayer. The waiting time until Ananias arrived (by his visit Saul received the Spirit and came into fellowship) was not lost, something was gained; the waiting time was profitable: “Behold, he is praying”. When Ananias was adjusted he was able to go and lay his hands upon him; he laid his hands upon a praying man. Not only was he a converted man, not only was he affected by the objective view he had of the Lord Jesus personally, but there is a certain attitude in him: he was praying. The waiting time, dear brethren, is meant to sober us. It is meant to modify our outlook, to soften our outlook; that whereas there might have been extremes of view, the waiting time, as used of the Lord, would bring us together, especially if we are in the attitude of prayer, and seeking the Lord’s mind. It is not a question of everyone coming round to my view but of all gradually, as utilising the waiting time, coming round to the Lord’s view; and so we shall be directed towards unity. Certain exercises exist at the present time; there is waiting, but the waiting time is meant to be profitable. I am certain the Lord intends this.
In chapter 10 the Spirit has in view a certain movement of the testimony, and Peter has an extreme view which is opposed to the view the Lord has. The Lord as in mind that the testimony should go out to the nations; Peter had other thoughts, and he is quite entrenched in his thoughts, and no doubt he could quote scripture to support them. He could refer to the Old Testament and how God confined His dealings to the nation of Israel. No doubt he could prove from scripture that his view was right. But Peter has to be adjusted, and he puts himself in the way of adjustment by prayer. It says, “Peter went up on the house to pray, about the sixth hour”, v 9. In that attitude of prayer Peter put himself in the way of receiving adjustment. We can be quite adamant and others may think the way we think, and so it builds us up in our own adamant attitude. Peter put himself in the way of being adjusted by going up on the house to pray, and the Spirit took advantage of Peter’s attitude to adjust him. He was not easily adjusted; it would seem that the vision had to take place three times before he got the point of it, but he did get the point of it, and he was adjusted. He put himself in the way of adjustment by being in the attitude of prayer. He did not go to pray, as far as we read, for any specific thing; it is the attitude of prayer. Oh! what value it would be for everyone of us, indeed for those who walk in the truth universally, if in the waiting time we were concerned to be in the attitude of prayer and getting the Lord’s mind about a particular matter, or about any matter. Thus would the unity of the Spirit be kept in the uniting bond of peace. While we look for completed exercises, sometimes we have to wait for exercises being completed, and the waiting time is no doubt allowed of the Lord that we might come round and be directed towards unity.
In chapter 13, in Antioch we find there were persons who were ministering to the Lord and fasting. It does not seem clear to me whether it was the whole assembly who were ministering and fasting, but certainly these five prophets and teachers were ministering to the Lord and fasting. The Holy Spirit was looking for vessels to use in the great outgoing work of the testimony and He found available, without requiring to be adjusted, just available to hand, two vessels who were in this attitude of ministering to the Lord and fasting.