Waiting and Walking

One of my wife's heroes never knew that he was her hero, and she doesn't even know his name. Some years ago, she was working in a grocery store, and a man came in looking for a job. He had just been laid off from an oil company executive position, and was searching for another, but meanwhile he needed to be earning something even if it meant sacking groceries. She recounts that he showed up every day in a starched white shirt with a tie, and he did his job well. But after a few weeks he was gone, presumably to another job more like the one from which he'd been laid off.

Why is he one of her heroes? Because he stepped up and did what needed to be done, when it needed to be done, to support his family. He didn't complain about not finding what he wanted right off, nor did he whine about sacking groceries being beneath his dignity or his education. He just took the job and put his best effort into it for as long as was necessary.

Why is that so hard for some people to understand? Why do some people seem more like Cousin Eddie Johnson in Christmas Vacation, explaining his seven-year stint of unemployment with "I'm holding out for management"?

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

—Isaiah 40:31 (NASB)

I count this among a number of scripture passages in which I think one phrase is perhaps overused while other phrases are overlooked. It seems like some can wait on the Lord forever, hoping that He will eventually just wave away whatever mess they've found themselves in. Don't forget the rest of the verse: once the Lord provides some kind of wings, you're supposed to leave the nest, even if they are not the specific wings you were expecting. You are not completing the verse until you get out and do some walking and running.

I know people (I bet we all know a few) that never seem to expend any real effort to improve their situation, and instead just seem to be holding out for somebody to rescue them in just the fashion that they wish to be rescued. If you offer them any suggestion that is not in line with their ideas, there will always be a "reason" why it does not apply to them or can't possibly work. I really think some of them see their position as virtuous, depending on God alone, as in Habakkuk 2:4 "the righteous will live by his faith" (NASB) But they remind me of the joke about the guy who prayed for years to win the lottery. If only he won, he could get out of his hole and be such a generous person. Then one day as he was complaining in prayer about never having won, he heard a voice: "It might help if you bought a ticket."

My wife and I have an expression, "sometimes you need to just buy a ticket." (Note to the metaphor-impaired: this is not an endorsement of state lotteries!) To truly live by faith, the righteous need to first pray and then put their feet to their prayers.

At the other end are people who boldly go out to do whatever they wish and expect God and others to honor their "stepping out in faith." Sometimes what one might call faith, another would probably call presumption, expecting God to go along with your program.

We need to be open, watching and listening for opportunity, but we also need to wisely consider whether our plans are honoring to God and His purposes, that they are needs and not just wants. There is always a balance point somewhere. Jesus alluded to that in John 14:13, "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son," and 15:7, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." Just anything you want does not fit in that description, but pretty much anything you really need does.

The saying "God helps those who help themselves" is not in the Bible: not all that God has helped began by doing the work themselves, and not all that set out to help themselves saw God step in to finish it. Nevertheless, it is a good saying, and I believe that God honors our honest attempts to do that which honors Him, including caring for the needs of our family. And I believe that because we have seen numerous examples in our own lives and in lives of those around us. And unfortunately we've seen negative examples as well.

A Jim Croce song recounts a failing search for "an executive position". But unlike Cousin Eddie Johnson, at least he went ahead and took the job at the car wash. And maybe when he does get himself straight he can have that air conditioned office.

I hope the unnamed hero wound up with an even better job than the one he lost. He deserves it after mounting up new wings in the grocery store.