BY DAWN REED
With scissors in hand, I stared in the mirror. My bangs had been driving me crazy for too long.
I could have called my friend Megan who cuts my hair. She is schooled, trained even, in trimming and styling. Megan would know what to do. She would probably encourage me to come by her shop to fix the problem.
I was not trained for this. I did not know the nuances of hairstyling, the art of how hair should be groomed. Instead of waiting for Megan’s help, I grabbed the dull bathroom scissors and went to work. It was not a good move.
In the Bible, there were many people who were waiting. Waiting for deliverance, for a sign, a baby, a promise to be kept. Some got tired of waiting.
Genesis 16 tells that Abram was waiting on the promised heir. His wife, Sarai, got tired of God’s timeline. She blamed Him for keeping her from having children, then took matters into her own hands. It is hard to grasp what she did: Sarai decided to build a family through her Egyptian slave Hagar. Not a good move.
The Israelites waited for deliverance out of Egypt. They groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God (Exodus 2:23). He heard their groaning and sent an unlikely deliverer: Moses. After 430 years of slavery, they walked out of Egypt.
Rahab’s story is in Joshua 2 and 6. She waited for the spies to rescue her and her family when the army of Israel conquered Jericho. She saved the lives of the spies, so they promised to deliver her safely. Rahab was instructed to tie a red cord in her window, then bring her family into her home to stay until the city was attacked.
On the first day, when the Israelite army marched around Jericho, she must have been ready to go. But the army went back to their camp. What a disappointment. On the second day, when the army returned, they marched around again and left. Did she cry when they walked away? She hadto wait for God’s perfect timing.
Rahab waited the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days. The army came and went, with no weapons, no attacks. How desperate she must have felt. And then…on the seventh day, the army marched seven times around the city. The seventh time around, the priests sounded the trumpet blast. Joshua commanded the army to shout. The. Wall. Collapsed. Had Rahab not waited, had she rushed out early, she and her family would have perished.
Waiting is not fun. Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength…” How does that even happen? How can waiting for the Lord renew my strength? Waiting makes me tired. I get frustrated. I want to fix things myself. Like Sarai.
David wrote in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” There are important things we can do while we are waiting. We can be reading God’s Word. We can be hiding it in our hearts and minds. While we are waiting, we can be knowing. Knowing that God sees us, hears our prayers and our groaning, and has a plan.
“I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1)
When we wait patiently, we will not act hastily. Like cutting my bangs. Thankfully, they will grow out—after waiting some more.
Dawn Reed is a newspaper columnist and pastor’s wife in Prestonsburg.