by Joanie Butman
Does anyone else feel like they’re just waiting for the next shoe to drop? That maxim pretty much defines 2020 thus far. The November election is guaranteed to close out this year with a bang. We are in a state of limbo with an uncertain future looming, waiting for the next catastrophe. I’m not sure it still exists in Catholicism, but limbo was the dreaded “place” where babies went if they died before being baptized. Curious, I asked Google and discovered the Vatican officially buried the concept of limbo in 2007. Good riddance.
The state of limbo on earth, however, is a very real thing. While uncomfortable, it doesn’t necessarily need to be dreaded like the Catholic version. Waiting is one of God’s favorite tools for building trust. When the answers or the healing/restoration you seek seems long in coming, it’s tempting to lose hope. Amid the myriad of floods, fires, global warming, coronavirus, political/economic strife and a litany of other issues, who isn’t waiting for some normalcy to return?
Periods of waiting can be excruciating. Most of us are not good at it and go to great lengths to avoid it. Wait-training is an integral part of God’s fitness plan and not meant to be passive because faith is a muscle that needs to be strengthened and stretched. Waiting is a time of growth and reflection. It’s a forced pause to be respected by using the time to develop skills and maturity for the next assignment. Moses shepherded sheep in the wilderness for 40 years before God chose him to shepherd his people out of Egypt. David honed his skills with his slingshot protecting his sheep for years before facing Goliath. And how about Joseph? He had good reason to feel hopeless. First enslaved & then imprisoned, his vibrant early manhood a big buffering circle of waiting. But God was at work behind the scenes---getting him to a place he could lead humbly and in a God glorifying way.
I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to be learning during this limbo period. I haven’t acquired a new language, written the great American novel, sculpted a new physique, read the Bible cover to cover, or anything else noteworthy. What I have mastered is the art of being still. There is only One person who knows what the future holds. I don’t need to know the end of the story. Knowing and trusting the One writing it is even better.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever (Ephesians 3:20-21)!
When the other shoe drops, will you be ready? Choose to get to know the only One who can calm the storm, who can create order out of chaos, and who can offer peace that surpasses human understanding. Limbo needn’t instill fear but anticipation as we wait for God’s plan to unfold – in His perfect timing.