Hurry Up and Wait!

Years ago my parents were starting to add on to their house. I was just a kid, perhaps 12, but I remember helping prepare the house and the yard. We had a carport (that ages me some doesn't it!) that Dad and I took apart and then began to work on the cement pad, breaking it up. What a job!

Ever broken up cement before? It's not easy. We dug around it, set up jacks under it and swung heavy sledge hammers to crack and break it up. Then we'd put it into a pick up and take it to the dump. It was a lot of work, especially for a 12 year old. I don't remember how long it took us, more than a weekend I'm sure. We felt great accomplishment. (Or was that just rest for sore muscles?)

It isn't all that amazing that cement takes so much work to break. It's meant to be solid, strong, dependable. But be careful where you plant trees. Along another part of the house were a small maple and redbud tree. They were just saplings, nurtured for years. But then they grew, tall and wide, providing beauty in the spring, shade in the summer and brilliant colors in the fall. (and the added work of raking.) But something else happened, quietly, unexpectedly, without notice or warning. The sidewalk buckled and cracked. There wasn't a shovel or a jack or a sledge hammer. There wasn't sweat or sore muscles, yet the cement lay in pieces, the hidden work of tiny tree roots burrowing through the ground.

Now that is amazing power, so subtle, so quiet, so methodical...

...so God-like.

Ever find yourself in a difficult situation that you couldn't wait to get out of? You pray and pray, expecting God in a chariot of fire to blaze out of heaven to sweep you away to safety and peace, but end up waiting and wondering if God is even listening or caring? Months and years of suffering with cancer or joblessness, or broken relationships, or hardships, poverty, etc. and where is God in all of this?

Isreal and Judah asked the same questions. The great Assyrian superpower had flexed its muscles and shown off its domination over the world, taken Israel into exile and had Judah (especially Jerusalem) surrounded. And the people prayed, "where are you God?" They wanted, needed for God to break the cement that had been poured around their feet, to break the chains of bondage, to set them free. And the years dragged on.

Nahum broke onto scene to speak clearly to Israel and God's judgment on Assyria. He came to bring hope to a people who were devastated by peril and oppression. God is "taking the yoke from your neck and splitting it up for kindling. I'm cutting you free from the ropes of your bondage."

Not like a sledge, but with the slow, subtle power of a tree root God was working, behind the scenes, silently, methodically. Then when the time is right, breaking Assyria and ushering in freedom.

And God still is...

...in your bondage, in your struggles, in your seeming hopelessness, God has heard your prayers and is working on your behalf.

"God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, no matter how desparate the trouble." (Nahum 1:7, The Message)

So, hurry up and wait! God is working just beneath the surface of what can be seen, to bring you to peace.

Depend on it!

Peace ><>
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