Waiting for Dad

 

	“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
	—John 14:23

We’ve all seen the wonderful videos of children of military families surprised by the arrival of the father for whom they have waited so long. Through long months that drag on and on, finally the day arrives. The overwhelming relief shows so clearly on the child’s face.

Sometimes waiting for our Heavenly Father to answer our prayers feels like that. We don’t know when He’s coming, and days stretch into weeks and into months and sometimes even years. We pray and watch as Paul taught us in Colossians 4:2:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Yet, as the waiting stretches on and on, it seems like the answer will never come. Even so, we know that God’s timetable is not the same as ours. He will come in His own time and His own way with an answer that will bless us and bring Him glory.

The verses of Scripture in John 11 illustrate this kind of waiting. Lazarus had died and his sisters, Mary and Martha had called for Jesus to come, but He hadn’t arrived. They mourned and wondered, because Jesus could have saved Lazarus, yet now he had died.

Imagine their joy when Jesus did come looking for them specifically. They still grieved, because Lazarus had died, but they must have felt profound relief when Jesus began to care for them and show them His obvious distress over their sadness.

But, they had a big surprise coming. Not only did Jesus come to comfort them and minister to them, He came to bring up Lazarus from the grave in a remarkable miracle.

When Christians speak of Christ’s second coming, many unbelievers scoff and doubt. Peter acknowledged this to his followers in 2 Peter 3. He assures Christ’s followers that even though it appears as though He will never come, we can know for certain that He will come back to Earth to retrieve His waiting people. He promised in John 14:3:

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

And, Jesus’ words, recorded in Matthew 24:42 instruct us:

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

Plenty of military families wait with longing to see their soldier—father or mother—come home at last. Many of us wait and wait for answers to our prayers. And, all who know Christ wait and watch for His coming again. With more surety than human children can have to see their fathers again, we absolutely know our Heavenly Father will come at last in answer to our expectations for Him.

Whenever you see one of those wonderful reunions between children and their military fathers or mothers, let the image remind you that your Heavenly Father waits for the day when He will come in answer to your prayers.