The Wisdom of Waiting

Acts 5:33-42

After Peter and John healed the man at the Beautiful Gate, it created a ruckus in the temple.  The high priests and governing council who were in charge of keeping things calm and in control questioned Peter and John and asked them to stop performing signs.  They demanded them to stop preaching about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Peter said he could not do that.

It was a tense moment.  To be sure, if we were in the high priests sandals and someone was out in front of our church causing a ruckus, healing people and saying we were responsible for someone's death, we would take offense at that.  We'd call the police.  We'd want them to stop saying things that hurt and made things feel out of control.

Peter does not stop preaching and teaching.

Again he is brought before the council.

Then there is the beautiful passage above.  Gamaliel said that the best thing the council could do was wait.

Wait to see if this teaching and preaching about Jesus fizzled out.
Wait to see if this teaching and preaching about Jesus was taken care of by the Romans.
Wait to see if this teaching and preaching about Jesus was from God.

Taking that wisdom for our own lives to wait to see if something is from God or to wait to see where God's presence is in the midst of an unfolding situation sounds good in a blog.  But in real life waiting is (to quote Tom Petty) "the hardest part."

We want to text someone; post something on Facebook; do something to move forward.

Waiting is too passive.

Waiting was exactly what Jesus told the disciples to do in Acts 1;
Waiting was exactly the wisdom of Gamaliel.

So, what are you waiting for?  And why do we often feel like we need to wait alone?  Can we, as a church, share in the waiting?  And can we talk about whether we are sensing God's presence in the waiting, guiding us or calling us or feeling in some way the reassurance that God is with us.

Thank you for waiting alongside me in the unfolding of these days.