Exodus 17:8-13 / 2 Tim 3:14 – 4:2 / Luke 18:1-8
One of the things in life that we really dislike is to wait. To wait is always at the expense of our time, whether it is to wait for someone to turn up, or to wait for something to happen.
But waiting is such a common occurrence that we should have gotten used to it, but we still complain about it.
Oh yes, we spend so much time in life waiting that we have become numb to it.
Of course, when we have to wait for someone who is late, we can get angry because our time is wasted in waiting.
Or if we have to wait for the service man, or the delivery man, or for our queue number to be called, we can get annoyed, irritated and frustrated, as we feel that we are like trapped.
But other than that, we actually spend a lot of time waiting for life to happen. So, when we were children, we can't wait to grow up and be an adult, so that we can be independent and have freedom.
We can't wait to get a job and earn money, and yet after a while, we can't wait to retire so that we can relax from the stress.
We can't wait to buy a home, and even a car, and then we can't wait to finish off paying the monthly mortgage and instalments.
Oh yes, we can't wait to get a lot of things, and yet, we also can't wait to get out of a lot of things.
In the 1st reading, we heard that Joshua and his men went into battle with the Amalekites, while Moses stood on the hilltop with the staff of God in his hands.
As long as Moses kept his arms raised, Israel had the advantage. But when he let his arms fall, Israel began to lose the battle.
Moses could have been silently wishing, while keeping his arms raised, that Joshua and his men would quickly win the battle.
But he waited and his arms got tired. So, he had to keep his arms raised and kept waiting for the battle to be over.
As he waited, and his arms got tired, Moses came to realize that he needed help, and so Aaron and Hur came to his help to keep his arms raised, and with that Israel won the battle.
So, it was in his waiting that Moses realized that God was telling him something, that he can't do it alone and he needed help from Aaron and Hur.
In the gospel, Jesus told a parable to teach about the need to pray constantly and never to lose heart.
In that parable the widow pestered the judge for justice, but for a long time he refused and he wasn't bothered.
Then somehow, at last, he realized it would be better to do for the widow what was just.
The widow persisted and waited, and from that we learn that all things happen in God's time.
So even when we pray for what is good, right and just, we have to be prepared to wait.
St. Monica waited for 30 years before her son St. Augustine was converted. And St. Monica became the model for all mothers praying for the conversion of their children.
The people of God wandered and waited in the desert for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land, and from that they learned how to obey and trust in God's providence.
So, in faith we pray and wait, and in that waiting, we must also be listening to what God is saying.
There is hymn with this chorus:
Holy Darkness, blessed night, Heaven’s answer hidden from my sight. As we await You, O God of silence, we embrace Your holy night.
So, we pray, we wait, we listen and we put our trust in God that He will make all things beautiful in His time.
God blesses those who put their hope and trust in God's time, that He will reveal something to us as we wait.
God will reward those who wait with love, because good things will come upon hearts that have learned to be patient and persistent.