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The famous philosopher Tom Petty said it well, “The waiting is the hardest part….” Living in the middle of this threefold span of past, present, and future, we can only occupy one space at a time, the present. We may refer to some as “living in the past”, but what we really mean is they’re inordinately focused on things that have gone before. But waiting is a reference to the future, that awful experience of being fastened to the present, unable to shorten the distance between the now and the not yet. To the Open Theist, I suppose their timeline butts against a slowly creeping wall, but to the biblical believer, the promised paradise with God is as solid as the here and now. And that knowledge is what makes the waiting hard. But we do not wait alone. Our misery has a company we may have overlooked.
I’m a sucker for a viral video. I particularly like the ones that feature members of the animal kingdom. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to where they might appear. Scrolling through my LinkedIn feed the other day, I came across a video that grabbed my attention and stayed with me for days. The video showed two Jack Russel Terriers in the waiting area of an airport. They were shaking with excitement, watching with tunnel-vision for their master’s imminent return. The footage shows that when they finally catch a glimpse of him, some 20 yards away, they take off running. Their owner keeps walking towards the camera as the little dogs leap up and down, pressing their furry bodies against his legs. He finally kneels down and lets them fully greet him. They bounce all around him, alternately jumping into his lap, licking his face, and giving affectionate nibbles to his nose. It seems as if they want to be inside of him, not just near him.
Something about the video deeply resonated with me, and I didn’t know why until I came across a passage this morning…. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:19-21) This passage tells us that we have an eager host of others waiting with us.
The creation all around us is alive with longing just like ours, but we seldom see the signs. Remember for a moment all the random bits of physics we’ve learned along the way, how every piece of matter is made of tiny worlds of ceaseless movement, the atoms, comprising all the things we touch. The reality is far from obvious. Everything appears so motionless and still. But the movement of these unseen particles continues in each concrete form around us. Could it be that this restless dance is but the quivering expectation of a waiting world? The text above would seem to say so.
All creation is harnessed by the painful leash of futility. Like our elders who remember “the way it used to be”, creation groans beneath the memory of a thornless past when it yielded easy to the farmer’s sweat-less labor. And like the Terriers in the video, it’s eager for release, that glorious liberty when their Maker will walk again with the ransomed sons of Adam, now made children of God. Like the horse who “paws the valley” before he “swallows the ground” (Job 39:21, 24), creation is aching for the real race to begin, when all its pent up energy will be expressed in endless praise and every ear will finally understand its tongue!
So, place your hand on some solid object near you, and remember there is movement in its molecules, a trembling from its memories of a time that’s yet to come. Remind yourself, in your groaning, that all you see is groaning too, waiting just like you. Every moment brings us closer to our Master’s swift return. The Father’s children then will be revealed, and ours and creation’s bondages finally broken. Then we both shall know the joy for which we’ve longed.
This purifying promise still remains and spurs in us a hope that sanctifies – “the pure in heart shall see God” (Matt 5:8), and “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3) May we quiver with this eager expectation, like the yearning world around us, and run the hopeful race that’s set before us, until we finally see His face.
And since I know you probably want to see the video, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i24zGrnywc&list=PLQMqeF1q4R7xyxxSSA4eUwK-wjsMhwUuQ&index=52&t=0s
