Awaiting

Awaiting

I think I miss out on a whole segment of life because I’m a man. We men are wired certain ways. Traditionally, we have been typecast into being the hunter-gatherer; the female, the nurturer. Women shop, men purchase. Men charge the mall as though they are overtaking a strongly fortified castle. Females saunter about from store to store as though it is a flowery meadow, taking in the sights.

I realize there are many exceptions to all of those statements, but there are certainly differences (other than anatomy), generally speaking, between male and female. These differences are what cause men to miss out on so much. Let’s go back to the mall example. If I need a shirt, I go to the store where I typically find shirts that I like. If they have what I want, I purchase the shirt and leave the mall. My wife would look in all the stores to see if there might be something she liked better, or could get at a better price. Amazingly, she “finds” all kinds of deals that she didn’t even know were there.

Let me get to the point of this article. When dealing with our relationship with God, men usually take a more direct approach to things. We look in the Bible to find the answer or solution we seek. We pray for the need at hand. We worship when it’s time to worship. Women seem to approach God with a more contemplative demeanor. They tend to be more relational. This brings me to the thought that sparked this whole dialogue.

My friend, Ed Chinn, shared a quote with me recently by Simone Weil, who wrote, “What is most important cannot be searched for, it must be awaited.” Immediately I went to passages of scripture like, “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened.” Also, “I press toward the mark of the calling we have in Christ Jesus.” Those are manly scriptures. How can this comment by Simone Weil be true?

Then I recalled some other passages, like, “The eyes of the Lord roam to and fro throughout the whole earth looking for those whose heart is perfect toward Him.” There is nothing about “searching” in this passage, only “awaiting.” Without going much further here, for sake of time, let me tell you where I have come to land on this. I believe “awaiting” in this instance is our exercise of faith.

You see, we do seek after the Lord, but we must do so in faith, expecting. Even in our searching we have to keep our hearts open to “find” what the Lord has for us in every moment of every day. If we do not “await” His coming, even in the mundane, we will miss out on so much of life. Maybe us guys need some help from you ladies on this one. Teach us how to “await” so we will not miss the Lord when He appears.