During my years of preaching ministry, I usually awoke early on Sunday mornings. I remember that often I wondered what God would do among his people on that day. That attitude of anticipation blessed my preaching ministry across more than four decades. As I thought about what God would do, I considered that he might do something through me his servant as I shared his Word with his people. I learned to wait patiently because not all Sundays were equal. Some Sundays, what God was doing was all but invisible. Other Sundays, God’s work was apparent and the church was blessed by his overwhelming presence and power.
The question still comes on some Sunday mornings: “What will God do today?” But as my ministry and mission efforts have expanded beyond a single local congregation, the question has been joined by more questions. What will God show me today? What does God want me to learn today? Whom can I touch and encourage today? Who will reach out to me today? To whom can I reach out? Who will I meet who is in need of Jesus? These questions have something in common. They represent God’s people waiting for God, depending on God, anticipating God’s presence and action in their lives.
It’s Sunday again: a day when we sharpen our God-awareness, attempting to see what God is doing and where he is doing it so that we might join him in his work as faithful disciples. The inactivity of waiting is not all bad. Like the runner waiting for the starting gun to sound, sometimes we wait in the blocks, poised and ready to act immediately when God’s will and way is clear.
It’s Sunday again. May your God-awareness grow today, patiently waiting for just the right moment when God breaks forth and acts in your life and in the lives of others, to work his will and way in this world. May we be alert and ready!