Week 39: Day 4
Today Beth shares some thoughts on waiting with God at the centre of our hope.
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Intro: Hello, welcome to Orbit. My name is Beth and I am loving doing orbit with you this week. Orbit is a short reflection to help you to put God at the centre of your life.
Bible: Today we are focusing on Mark 16:4-8
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Thoughts: Have you ever thought more about the action of hoping? In the dictionary, the word hope means ‘a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.’ The Hebrew meaning I prefer slightly to this because it seems to go a little bit deeper. In Hebrew the word hope has the root meaning ‘to wait for.’
If you’ve listened to Orbit this week, I’m sure you’ll have heard me talk about my dog Gus. He’s a puppy and if you met him, you’d know that he is the cutest dog ever. A few of his favourite things are cheese, leaves and by far his favourite hobby is chewing anything and everything he can. Something else he does is wait. Whenever my husband Joe leaves the room and closes the door behind him, Gus waits as close to the door as he can. He waits and sits, stands, chases his tail, chews the chair leg and just stares at the door. He waits for as long as it takes for Joe to come back through the door, and this is probably his favourite moment of the day.
These women were hoping for something that they didn’t think was possible. They waited and hoped for 3 days, which when you’re grieving, or waiting for something, even if it’s just an ASOS package, feels like 3 years. Throughout the Bible we are told stories of people who had hope, and what I always find the most amazing things is that they stay close to God as they hope. When Joe goes out of the door, Gus waits as closely to the door as possible, he waits as close to the place where he thinks Joe will come from as he can. What I love about these women, and so many other stories of hope in the Bible, is how the people of God hope and wait, they wait with God at the centre, they wait closely to him. This doesn’t necessarily mean that what we’re hoping for will come sooner, but it does mean that with God with us and at the centre, the pain that sometimes comes with hoping can be made sweeter in his presence.
Prayer: I’d love to use something written in Romans 15 as our prayer ‘may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ Amen.
Action: Maybe there is something you’re hoping for at the moment and the wait for it feels like forever. When you have sometime when you can find some quietness today bring the thing that you are hoping for to mind and invite God to be there with you too. Picture yourself passing this hope over to God and spend some time with him as you invite him into this hope.