Listen to the Homily
Read the Homily
Greatness Is Found in the Waiting Room
Remember When the Israelites were in Egypt? They had been waiting for God to rescue them from slavery for 400 years. They were still waiting for the Lord. When God appeared to Moses, he said, “I have heard the cry of my people.” Yes, 400 years of crying. Do you know what the Israelites did while waiting for God all that time? The Bible tells us. They multiplied. So how do you multiply? You fall in love, get married, and have kids. They could have hated their oppressors, taken up arms, and fought. They didn’t. They loved instead of hated. That is character. God waited because all that time, they were developing into a great nation. Greatness is always in the way; thus, we wait.
Yes, it is the same with us. We also wait for the Lord. What are we doing as we wait? We are multiplying into a great nation for God.
Do you remember the three young men in Daniel? They were standing before the great Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar. He had ordered everyone in Babylon to worship his gods when they heard the sound of the music. If they didn’t, they would be thrown into the red-hot furnace.” Three young men who worked inside the court of the king said that they were not going to worship false gods but only the one true God. The king was so livid that he ordered the oven to be heated seven times more. If the furnace were a thousand degrees, then it would have taken some time to heat it up to seven thousand degrees. I wonder what the three young men did in the waiting room. I know I would be thinking about renegotiations. Not the young men. They were thinking about God. This was their hour; this was their moment to show the world how great God is to all nations. And they did. Greatness is found in the waiting.
The lawyers got the money and the inheritance when the widow lost her husband. We have to wonder why the priests in the temple did not speak out and oppose this. They were not going to say anything because they received get a cut of the inheritance. They have bills to pay. Remember, it took forty-six years to rebuild the temple. In that case, we turn to the judge to render justice. But the judge also will get a piece of the action. It is a corrupt system. How is a widow on her own going to beat a system of powerful people? I will tell you how. She will get up in the morning and pour herself a cup of coffee. Then she will take the dog for a walk and to the post office to mail a few letters. Next, she will walk over to the courthouse to the judge’s chamber and beat on the door until her knuckles bleed… and she will do this every day. She does it because she knows that God will not allow a corrupt system to win. She never quits, believing while she waits.
I am a Red Sox fan. I don’t ask for much. I don’t ask that the Red Sox win the World Series every year. I don’t ask that the Red Sox have the best pitching. All I ask for is that the Yankees lose. So a few years ago, the Yankees were in the playoffs. I turned the radio on to catch the score. The Yankees were losing 5 to 0 in the ninth inning. I thought it was safe to turn off the radio and go to sleep, which I did. The next morning, I woke up and decided to check out the game’s results. The Yankees won 6 to 5. How did that happen? I will tell you how. They never quit believing. They know they have everything they need to win. That is what we need to be. Whatever obstacles or setbacks we may face, we need to believe that God will be there. Greatness and character are always found in the wait.
Back to All Homilies
