Wait upon the Lord

When we arrived at Jeffreys Bay on Saturday, the town was exceptionally busy. In spite of the fact that the sea was as smooth as the Vaaldam on a windless day, there were surfers wherever you went. The guest house opposite the home where we stay, was as busy as a beehive. It’s a place where surfers hang out. Many were socialising, killing time in various ways. They did not look nervous or frustrated. They were waiting for the waves to return.
It was only on the news on Sunday night that I heard that an important international surfing event was taking place here, but that there was no progress, because there were no breakers! The who ’s who of South African surfing as well as the champion surfers of the world are in town. Waiting patiently.
On Monday morning the wind and the breakers returned. The event could continue. All of a sudden the guest house, the ice cream parlour, clubhouse and the shops were empty. The games began.
But on Monday afternoon it started raining. The bakkies with the surfer slogans and posters returned to the guest house. More unplanned parties were enjoyed. The waiting game started all over again.
Tuesday turned out to be a perfect day for the surfers.
We also, for the first time ever, went to watch an international surfing event, and I now have a better understanding of why they are able to wait so patiently. It is part of the game plan to make sure that you get the breaker that will give you the opportunity to win, to be a champion. If you just “jumped” onto the first wave that comes along – you could spoil your chances completely.
What they came to do was important enough for them to continue waiting for. Their focus, enthusiasm and ambition (and desire to win the enormous amount of prize money!!) enabled them to wait for the right time, weather and circumstance. In the water that same patience is rewarded with a better chance to be a winner.
These are people who will not allow their concentration to be disturbed by less than perfect conditions.
These are people who are determined to create their own opportunity by being patient.

Christians are infamous for their intolerance with God’s timing. They want to have perfect answers to instant prayers, immediately. They often blame God for having to wait. They time and again loose interest and focus when there is no wind driving their faith ships or when stormy weather interferes with their plans and desires.
We Christians can learn a lot from the surfing fraternity.

Jesus, on the other hand, spent a lot of time waiting on his Father. He often went into retreat to find answers, strength, and patience. In order to be able to do this, Jesus made certain that he had time to pray. There are four important words about this in Matthew 14:22: "Jesus dismissed the crowd."

This was not just any crowd. This was about 10,000 people who had heard Jesus teach, had seen him heal the sick and had watched him produce enough food miraculously to feed them all. This was a crowd ready to make him a king. But Jesus dismissed them! Why? We read in verse 23: "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray."

Jesus said no to a buzzing, excited crowd, an excellent opportunity, in order to say yes to an even better one. It was a deliberate choice to honour his priorities. Jesus' first responsibility and main concern was not to satisfy his scores of excited fans, but to wait faithfully on his heavenly Father until “his hour has come”, as he often said.

On another occasion Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek." This word "meek." used in the Bible is the same word used to describe a wild stallion that has been trained for the saddle. It means power under control, strength with direction, ready to get going, yet being disciplined, focussed – and waiting. This saying really says “Blessed are the focused, those who know their priorities and honour them and wait upon God for the wind to turn and the breakers to come back.”

Jesus most of the time served the crowd diligently. But he did dismiss them when he had to do something of greater importance – like having fellowship time with his heavenly Father, waiting on his perfect timing.

When the perfect breakers come, we must be able and ready to surf them like champions.
Will we, in spite of waiting long, when God’s time comes still be focussed, calm and determined enough to accomplish his will?
Are we patiently disciplined when it comes to waiting upon the Lord?

Father, Thy will be done… Amen.