DAY 18: "The Waiting" by Shane Robbins

DAY EIGHTEEN: "The Waiting" by Shane Robbins
I love to read the story of David. Boy, did he have some ups and downs! But one aspect of the story that has always intrigued me is his anointing by Samuel. David was the youngest of his brothers, just like me. When Samuel invited the family out to share in a sacrifice, David was left back tending the sheep. Maybe a modern day equivalent would be waiting to put the wet clothes in the dryer, I don’t know. But he seemed to be an afterthought. After the Lord had passed over all his siblings and he was brought from the field, I can almost imagine the looks from his brothers and the rolling eyes as Samuel began to pour the oil over his head. David? A king? Please.

Then, as far as we can tell, nothing changed. David went back to the field with the other hired help and watched the sheep. I can’t really get my thoughts around that. The nation's best known prophet from the nation's best known city comes to your relatively unknown house and proclaims you the next King of the nation, and then you go back out to the mundane world? He didn’t go to king training school to learn how to sword fight or any of that other kingly stuff. It was back to the sheep. Sure, he got to play the harp for King Saul every now and then but it was hardly an apprenticeship. No, he just waited – out there in the field serving his family in a thankless task.

A few weekends ago, I took my family tent camping at Trace State Park for one night. Driving down the road after leaving the next day, Tricia and I talked in the front seat about what we would do next time to make it better: an air mattress for the tent, breakfast foods to cook the next morning, an extra night to have more time, did I mention the air mattress? Morgan was in the back seat listening with her little ears when she suddenly exclaimed, “Why are y’all talking like that?! It was so good just like it was!”

In my own life I get really impatient at times. I wonder if I miss savoring the sweetness of mundane moments in everyday life. I wonder if I get so wrapped up in each hectic day that I miss my time for the quietness, intimacy, and worship with my Lord. If God has me on the potter’s wheel of “the waiting”, am I allowing myself to be molded and prepared into a vessel He can use? Or am I always just impatient and miss out on seeing the moments God has created and so desperately wants me to seize each and every day?

Still, it can be pretty hard to be patient during the waiting. Sometimes things can become routine, mundane even. I realize I am far from alone in these aspects. My mind goes back to David, sitting in the field, playing his harp and singing songs to the Lord. Looking out at his sheep on a nice, peaceful night, full of contentment he thinks to himself, “The Lord is MY shepherd. I shall not want… Hey, that’s pretty good. I need to write that down.” But seriously, I think it was in those early times of quietness, intimacy, and worship with God that he prepared David to be the King He wanted him to be – a man after His own heart.

I am so thankful to be a part of the individuals and families that make up The Church at Trace Crossing. I see talented people with a servant’s heart that God has anointed to do some really great things. Just in the year and a half that I have been a part, I have seen some amazing happenings: people giving out organs; a small group of church families collecting enough money to buy transportation, nice transportation, for someone in need; virtually everyone coming together to serve a forgotten section of our community.

I can’t imagine David foresaw the giant he would defeat, the armies he would conquer, the success he would experience. But the Bible says that from the first moment the oil was poured down his head, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him in power. I think about the dream only a few years ago that God put in the hearts of a small group of individuals dissatisfied with “church as usual”. We have seen some amazing things and we are all thankful, but I still find it in my heart that the best is yet to come. In this time of waiting and “gathering”, as Kevin shared over the summer, I think God is making the preparation needed within those longing to see this community totally transformed for Christ. We have seen God move, but He is steadily creating a hunger longing to see Him really show out! As Kevin wrote just a few days ago, “Greater things are still to be done in this city”!

My Prayer for Trace Crossing:
Lord, help us to realize the excitement and choice contained in each and every moment of our lives. Help our church, in its toddler years, to become who You would want us to be. Let us see the opportunities in everyday life to grow, become alive in You, and to reach this community in a Spirit that is alive and full of truth. And help us Lord to realize what You have blessed us with, to never take for granted the church family You have created. Help us realize that if we allow you to continue to shape us as individuals, then, as part of this awesome church family, our minds cannot conceive Your future plans!