Faith that Waits

When I sit down to write about once every four or five days, I usually try to think of something that has happened or something that I have learned recently. In that same spirit this morning, let me give you a report on what I have been doing the last few days. Oh wait, pretty much nothing.

The national curfew is from 7pm - 8am until further notice, but the mission overseeing me right now has requested that we stay indoors at all times unless absolutely necessary. Everything is closed; most every event is cancelled. The most exciting thing that happens each day is when a random plane flies overhead and everybody runs outside to see what it is because the airport is closed. It's usually some small plane bringing in another president or leader to help negotiate terms. Just in case you didn't know, Burkina Faso had a coup d'état that started last Wednesday, so today marks day 7 and I'm still alive, just going a little stir crazy. 

People have been talking about evacuating. You never know when things might get worse, so why not get out of here while it's still safe? Even I fell into asking myself, "Should I go home?" I certainly do feel like I am not doing much here, just sitting around and waiting for something to happen. Honestly, I feel quite useless. With furlough coming up in about one month, why not just go back to the U.S. now? 

That's when I opened by Bible study (still working through Beth Moore's Believing God) and discovered a beautiful truth this morning about faith. We often think about faith as somethin that moves us to action - and it certainly does - but sometimes faith also makes us wait. Makes us sit still. Makes us wait and hope on the Lord. 

Sitting still, I relate to that part! And I realized that faith in this moment here in Burkina Faso is to sit still. It is not to panic. It is not to take action and flee the county. Faith says I believe God will resolve this crisis. Faith says God will take care of me. Faith says God will use this catastrophe to present opportunities to share the gospel, and I don't want to miss that because I left. Faith says that literally hundreds of people have personally told me that they are praying for me and this country, and even thousands more whom I don't know are also praying. Faith says that matters; prayer matters, and God will answer those prayers with a peaceful resolution when some people are saying a peaceful exit from this coup is "impossible".

Well, it's another day, and here I am, I told the Lord this morning as I sat on my bed. I feel like I am doing nothing, but I know you are doing something. And if it takes me doing nothing for you to do your something, then I'm okay with that. 

So I wait. I am waiting to see what God will do, trusting that he will fix the mess that has been created from this coup and then restore time to me before leaving for furlough. 

Faith says even though I feel like I am doing nothing, God is doing something. God is always working. 

And in reality, I'm not doing nothing. I have spent the last few days cooped up in a house with nothing to do, so I have been spending tons of time with Jesus. Bible study, prayer, worship, reading Christian books, memorizing scripture, and hammocking. I bet you didn't know hammocking was a spiritual discipline, but let me assure you, it is. And in all this I see that I am not doing nothing. Perhaps I am doing the most important thing. Time with him is never wasted. 

I am learning that faith definitely calls us to action. The Bible teaches that faith without works is dead.  At the same time, I am learning that sometimes faith also calls us to be still and to wait upon the Lord. It takes a great wisdom to know the difference. Lord, help us to understand how.