In the Meantime
We cannot believe we are almost to December! 2020. This has been a mess of a year for many people on many levels. There are also many reasons to rejoice, as always! However, this is a year when “unprecedented” became an overused adjective and that is rarely a good thing! When it feels like the whole world is in turmoil it can feel overwhelming. We might have a tendency to feel like we need to fix everything. It makes me think of a framed poem my mom had on her wall beside her mirror:
Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
I read this almost daily growing up. There is great wisdom in this little verse. I tend to want to go straight to solving world peace, but that is not how it works. You cannot reverse this, starting with world peace and working backward. Change has to start with the individual heart. And the way to a righteous heart is always Jesus.
“I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”
1 Peter 1:6-7 MSG
“This” is described in the prior verses in 1 Peter 1 as our brand new life in Jesus, starting now and continuing forever, with God watching over us. This does make us feel great, and we know have to put up with every aggravation “in the meantime.” But it's the meantime that gets me every time. 2020 has absolutely been a year of “in the meantime.” We cannot gather, so in the meantime... schools are closed, but in the meantime... people lost their jobs, and in the meantime... the list goes on.
When things don’t go as planned or people don’t act as expected or circumstances don’t change, the meantime can be a mean—meaning unkind, poor in quality or ungenerous—time indeed. Peter assures us that pure gold put through the fire comes out proved pure, but what about in the meantime in the fire? We can be faced with fear and discouragement and all manner of floundering in our suffering.
This is what David said in Psalms 131:
“GOD, I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain. I haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans. I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content. Wait, Israel, for GOD. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!”
Psalm 131:1-3 MSG
This is written by someone (David) who has placed total trust in God alone. This person is secure, content, unfazed and patiently waiting on God with hope. If you read this on a good day you may just flip right by, but if you read this on a day when life has once again gone awry, you may be stopped in your tracks by the question, “but how?” This explanation by Nicky Gumbel is as brilliant as it is painful to hear:
“How does this total trust happen? First, resign as managing director of the universe. Stop trying to control everyone and everything. The psalmist writes, ‘I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain. I haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans’ (v.1, MSG).
Second, put your trust in God in the same way that a baby has total trust in a parent: ‘I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content’ (v.2, MSG).”
Nicky Gumbel
“First, resign as managing director of the universe.” Ouch. The job of managing director of the universe has already been taken (by the Creator of the universe no less!). This resignation is the first step because we cannot and will not trust God with things we are still trying to control. We need to resign from this job we are neither equipped for nor capable of. What can we do, then?
We can cultivate a quiet heart. In 1 Peter 3 the apostle describes the desirability of having a gentle and quiet spirit, assuring us this type of heart is precious to God. A quiet heart rests in Jesus. A quiet heart is the picture of calm strength. A quiet heart is content. A quiet heart does not get tossed and rattled by others or by circumstances. A quiet heart is one who is working on her inner life with Jesus. This type of quiet has nothing to do with volume and certainly doesn’t mean we are to be a doormat. A gentle and quiet heart is one fully trusting her Savior with all of the details of her life, so she no longer needs to strive and fight for her way. In the meantime, in the waiting, we can rest in Jesus, and we can work on our inner lives.
“So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.”
1 Peter 2:1-3 MSG
Peter says it this way: clean house! Get rid of anything that separates you from God and His best for you. Fill up with God and His goodness. This is the way to that important step of “beauty in the character.” This is hard work; it’s daily work. But the payoff is maturity and wholeness in God, and this is a prize worth working for.
So, I have resigned as managing director of the universe and I’m off to do a little house cleaning… in the meantime.