Sometimes I think that the big dividing lines between Christians are not primarily about doctrine but about temperament and how we mentally process things. Take for example the recent debate about whether pastor’s have jobs, whether their vocation is about leisure or work. It strikes me that some of the arguments against work came from a place where there needs to be a neat delineation between what laborious work which is to be endured under micro-management and pleasure which is to be enjoyed without constraint or measure.
Similarly, as I read Luke Plant’s article about the sabbath, it seemed that for something to be understood as God’s will and command for us that it had to be prescribed in a certain way. Again the choice seemed to be between the legalistic sabbath or no duty and obligation at all. Some people need things neatly stated, propositionally with clear scope. Others cope better with narrative and with having to do a bit of work on the grey areas.
Luke’s article presented another example. In order to demonstrate his argument that we were getting into a mess by defining the Lord’s Day as Sabbath, he referred to the example of “waiting on God.”
In charismatic and Pentecostal circles, it is quite common to use the phrase “waiting on the Lord” to mean a kind of meditative, “listening” prayer in which you wait for the Holy Spirit to lead your thoughts directly, and interpret that as the voice of God.
One of the difficulties with this is that, in my view, it is taking a biblical phrase and using it in an unbiblical way — I think “waiting on/for the Lord” in the Bible is actually about trusting God. This produces a feedback loop that is difficult to escape from. Because of how the phrase is used in those circles, every time they read Psalm 130:5,6, Isaiah 40:31 or similar passages, it is firstly assumed that the Bible is talking about their practice of listening in prayer. Those texts then reinforce not just the legitimacy of the practice, but its importance.
When asked for biblical support for their practice, they do point to these texts — despite the fact that the phrases they contain have been interpreted according to their usage of that terminology, rather than actually describing the practice in a clear way. It becomes very difficult for them to believe that listening in prayer is either unbiblical or not as important as they have thought — after all, they know for a fact that they’ve been encouraged to do that many times in God’s word, even if they can’t remember where.
Now, let’s leave aside the assumption that this is something specific and common to Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, there seems to be a little bit of a dig there “Here’s a phrase I associate with a group that I suspect to be theologically not quite there.” For what it’s worth, I’ve spent enough time in both Charismatic and non-charismatic circles to conclude that the phrase is no more used by charismatics than by non-charismatics. In fact, it is probably fairer to link it with an older and more pietistic generation if anything. However, I don’t want to get so much into that.
Rather, what I want to pick up on is this. Luke has decided that “waiting on the Lord” is about “trusting in the Lord.” It’s interesting that he opts to say that he “thinks” this is the meaning but dismisses the interpretation of others without demonstrating why they are wrong and he is right.
So, let’s push in a little more. I want to suggest here that Luke is partly right but only partly right. Yes, when the Psalmist says that he will wait for the Lord, then that is an expression of trust. He is saying that he can trust God to act. He knows God will do what is right, just and good, he will step in to deliver at the right time. This means that the Psalmist does not need to attempt to intervene himself. He doesn’t need to try and push the agenda or force God’s hand. He waits. However, notice two things. First that the emphasis in Scripture on those occasions seems more on the language of “waiting for the Lord” (Psalm 130:5-6), the Isaiah 40:31 reference is different still, it talks about hoping in the Lord. So, when someone says that they are “waiting on God in prayer”, they aren’t saying exactly the same thing as in those texts. In fact, I don’t think I’ve remembered anyone giving a proof text attempt to defend the expression or practice because I don’t think it has been a controversial matter before.
Secondly, consider this. The Psalmist isn’t just saying that he trusts God, he is saying how believes out that trust. He does so by “waiting.” If we just mean “trust” without any development then the language is a little meaningless. “Waiting” points to a posture and orientation until the thing we are trusting God for happens. This means that we are doing something whilst we are waiting.
Guess what God’s people tend to do in Scripture whilst they wait for God to speak or to act? The answer is they pray -and sometimes fast- too. So guess what happens whilst the disciples wait for Pentecost or for news about Peter in prison? The answer is that they pray. That’s the sense we have when people say they are waiting on God today. They are demonstrating that posture of hopeful, expectant, dependent trust by praying, by seeking God’s face, by listening.
So, assuming that Luke is happy with Christians giving time to praying, then I don’t think the issue is theological. The issue is about temperament and about how we word things. Luke seems to be looking for an exact phrase in the Bible that corresponds exactly to a phrase used now. Given, especially that we are using an English phrase and Scripture was written in Hebrew and Greek, he might have a long time to wait before we get anything much that exactly joins up in that way.
If we remember that sometimes our temperaments and our style of intellectual processing affect what we say and what we hear, then it might save us a lot of arguments!
Faithroots 