This presidential election has taught me afresh what children feel while waiting for Christmas. Something’s coming. It might be something wonderful. If the old saw about coal and switches is true, it might be something disappointing. Until it comes, there’s not much to do but wait.
People who lead often resist waiting. Leadership demands action, and action requires initiative. So that must mean it’s up to the leader to do something. Right?
Yet Scripture often says wait. God tells his people 43 times in the Old Testament “wait upon the Lord.”
Translators of the ancient Hebrew texts struggle with a word often translated “wait.” Sometimes they find a better rendering is “hope.” Consider Isaiah 40:31, translated in the KJV as “those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” In the NIV, we read “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”
The concepts are entwined. Hope is wrapped up in waiting; waiting is buoyed by hope. It is anticipation controlled by intentional inactivity, a willingness to allow what is hoped for to come to maturity before it is birthed. This is the kind of waiting we see in the outer office of an obstetrician — joyful, a little nervous, glad when it’s over, but something that shouldn’t be rushed.
For many of us, the hardest part of leadership — like Christmas and this interminable election — is waiting.
But waiting doesn’t mean doing nothing. As Isaiah pointed out, we are waiting on the Lord. For those who have take-charge tendencies, the work during waiting is a constant sorting of our responsibilities from God’s.
We’re waiting on him to take the initiative, while we engage in the isometric exercise of pulling our hands away from divine prerogative.
We are Elijah watching the prophets of Baal wail and lash themselves before the altar as the day passes. Then, we call on God, and at the right moment, he strikes the match, consumes the sacrifice, and proves again that he is God and we are not. Elijah’s advice: Don’t just do something; stand there.
The hard work of leading is letting God take the initiative — and waiting, and hoping, until he leads.
Eric Reed is Managing Editor of Leadership. To reply to Eric, write Newsletter@LeadershipJournal.net.
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