Editorial August 17, 1981 Issue

Wait on—not for—God

BEULAH M. ROEGGE

Christ, Truth, knocking at the door of the human heart, waiting to be taken in, is a familiar Christian theme. Yet much of the time we may feel that we are doing the waiting, waiting not only for Truth to appear to us, but even for God to act. Waiting is involved in our relationship with God; but it is not waiting for God, which would allow delay and disappointment, but the waiting that is serving, the waiting on God.

Of course, man, the real selfhood of each one of us, coexists and in a sense coacts with God. There is no waiting. Man is uninterrupted emanation, reflection, of all that God is. He serves God as expression, and God does not wait to express Himself. Life, God, is forever self-existent, self-expressing. Love, Mind, Truth, are ever actively expressed through man. And this points to how you and I can wait on God, how we can serve Him right now. We can identify ourselves rightly and live in the light of this identification by striving to express God's qualities in all our ways. There is no need to wait for anything before doing this. In fact we must not delay if we are to progress. "God only waits for man's worthiness to enhance the means and measure of His grace,"^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 154.} Mrs. Eddy reminds us.

Though it may appear just the opposite, waiting for God can be an act, not of our true will, the divine will, but of self-will. Refusing to act until we get the kind of direct, even personal, message from God that we want—this is at opposite poles from humbly doing the best we can to serve Him right now. An agnostic waiting for God to prove that He is real shuts out the Christly voice. Isaiah tells us of God's nearness and guidance: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."^{Isa. 30:21.}

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