“In a Little While”
By Rev. A. LaMar Torrence,
Cross of Life Lutheran Church
Scripture: John 16:1-24
I yet believe that like the Psalmist that I too shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” That is what faith is. Faith is simply believing that one day we will see the goodness of the Lord manifested in our lives. Faith believes that one day the glory of the father shall shine all around us. Faith is waiting for that glory to appear. It’s waiting for God to make all things work for the good of those who love the Lord. Faith is waiting to see what good can come from our trials and tragedies? It’s waiting to see what good can come from being diagnosis with AIDS or cancer. It’s waiting to see what good can possible come from a spouse walking out on a relationship. Faith is saying, “I still believe that after all that has happened. After friends are no longer returning my phone calls, after family members have turned their backs on me, after enemies are celebrating my disappointments, I still believe that I will see his goodness. Faith is hoping in a God who in spite of your present circumstances can still fill your heart with goodness and your soul with satisfaction.
And during times like these we need much faith. To say that times are hard would be a pronouncement in social rhetoric. The truth of our current climate indicates that there are more storm clouds ahead, more strong winds to blow, and more turbulence is soon to come. These are dark cloudy days. Our lives are being drowned in mire and we are struggling to climb out of our pits of despair and fear. Wall Street is trying to climb out of a recession and bear market. Congress is struggling to climb out of decades of political warfare and mudslinging. Society at large is trying to climb out of pits of fear and terror. And yet, with all our climbing, we still find ourselves slowly sinking in a mire of worry and uncertainty. Companies, like Ford, Kmart, Lucent, and Verizon are sinking in layoffs, bankruptcy, and downsizing. Government is still sinking with corruption and dirty politics. Homes, families, and marriages are still sinking in dysfunction, divorce, and distress. I mean one would think that after 911, the gulf war, and Iraqi freedom things could not get any worse; and yet, slowly, things are. After Columbine, our schools are still contaminated with gangs, drugs, and violence. After the famous domestic violence cases of Nicole Simpson and Tina Turner, our homes are still infected with various forms of abuse. Slowly we are sinking into a miry culture of confusion and chaos. We are trying harder than ever to leave normal lives; yet we are working double time to pick-up to the slack due to corporate downsizing and cutbacks. We are trying to spend quality time with our families and love ones; yet we are afraid to travel to once love vacation spots. We are trying to keep the faith that things will improve and get better; yet according to psychologists, we are still traumatized, and grief stricken.
It’s no wonder that Jesus would encourage his people to pray. No wonder, he would tell them to ask anything of the father and he would give it to them in Jesus’ name. That’s power. That is true power. God has given us power to reweave the rent fabric of the universe. He has given us power to be released from the snares of lower energies. He has given us power to totally depend on God while gaining independence from the darkness of the world.
There is power in prayer. With prayer, no problem is too big or small, no question too important or unimportant to place in his hands. Someone once said that, “we don’t ask God for too much; in fact, we ask for too little. We make the mistake many people make; that is although we believe in him we do not intimately include him in our lives.” And how could we? We live lives of multiplicity-doing many things at once. Sociologists refer to our era as a time of ‘stacking’. We stack many daily assignments into our lives. We have learned to do many tasks at once. We eat breakfast while driving to work or going to school. Many of us may even get a head start by pulling out laps tops and mobile phones on route to work. At the office, we email and we teleconference, we do many multiple tasks during the day. And companies encourage that. They encourage us to eat at our desk or use the company’s gym room. The longer they could keep you at work the better. We stack our lives with much work. Some say that it is related to the fact that the human attention span is getting shorter. And our children have learned to do it more efficiently. They watch television and listen to the Walkman simultaneously. Our lives are becoming more complicated and more complex. And it is very difficult for us to focus our energies on one task. Because we are a multitask generation of people – our spiritual enemy has many opportunities to draw our attention away from the priority of prayer. In our minds, we tell ourselves that instead of sitting down for a little while and communicate with God we should and can use our times wiser by performing some activity. You see we have come to understand ‘prayer as a form of doing nothing; however prayer itself is a form of action and the means to any solution to your circumstance.
That’s heart of today’s message. If you are searching for answer you will not find it through worrying, through fighting, fretting, fussing, and cussing. The answer will come by making time to take time to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary and communicate with him rather running around like Martha being anxious and troubled about many things. The answer will come through prayer. This is what Jesus tells his followers – if you need me – call my name. The old saints use to say – Jesus is on the mainline –call him up and tell him what you want. Our problem is that for many of us our lines are filled with static. We need to pray.
Jesus tells this group of believers that in a little while – troubles and confusion would eclipse their faith. In a little while – the world would hate them as it hated him. In a little while people will persecute and kill them thinking that they are doing a service to god. In a little while – mother would be against daughter, father against son, brother against sister, and neighbors against neighbors. And to make matters worse while all of this is happening to them and around them in a little while, they would look for him and he will not be found. In a little while – he would be gone leaving them to deal with a situation he created. Now I can understand the disciples’ puzzlement. Now I could understand their concerns. What Jesus was telling them made no sense? Some three years prior they left families, businesses, and lifestyles just to become a part of his vision. And they were successful. The ministry was growing – people were being delivered, being healed, and being fed. Their finances were good – so good that Judas could steal – and the disciples not miss it. It was a successful ministry. They’ve gave their lives to Jesus- walking with him daily, learning from him daily, and they were with daily. Now Jesus is telling them things are about to go sour. Things are about to get worse. “What are you talking about Jesus?” what is this little while? Who is this person that you are telling us will be sent by you? The disciples simply did not understand. And many of us still do not understand.
We do not know what it actually means to follow Christ whatever the cost. We do not understand that when we have enlisted in God’s army – joined God’s team; we have made enemies with the opposition and the enemy with his cohorts of angels will try everything and anything to have us lose our faith. When we make a commitment to follow Christ Satan makes a commitment to sift us like wheat and cause us to fall away.
And the sad part about it is that during that attack from the enemy many Christians do lose their way when they do not have to. If we understood this one thing about ‘a little while’ many of us would not have backslid into the addictions, he took us from. We would not have gone back to the destructive lifestyles we took us from. We would not have stay away from the church out of shame and guilt. If we understood what Jesus meant about ‘this little while’ we would have power to overcome the devil – we would have faith for the journey. We would have understanding of what God is trying to do for us in our lives.
Listen to what Jesus is telling them. He says that in a little while you will not see me but you will see me again. In Greek the word used for a little while is the word “mik-ron”- micron – meaning a small, little of size, nature, and length - a short brief space of time. In our English language a micron is one millionth of a meter. It is little- small. How small? Well it’s the same distance used to describe the distance that Jesus went in the Garden of Gethsemane to get away from his disciples and pray. He did not go far by just a little further? It’s the same distance used to describe the amount of time after Jesus’ arrested and imprisonment that his prediction of Peter’s denial of himself would take place. And the gospels say that “After a little while… he was approached and asked, “surely you were with him.” A little while is the same distance use to describe how long we would wait for Christ return…”For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.” That ‘little while – micron is just what he said it would be ‘ a little while’.
But Lord a lot can happen in a little while. One moment I could be having dinner with my family and in a little while, find myself in the hospital at one of their bedsides. One moment I could enjoying the sounds of music on my car stereo and in a little while find myself being pulled from a car accident. One moment I could find myself financially planning for my future and in a little while find myself unemployed. A lot could happen in that ‘little while’. And further more during those times it might even seem that that God is silent and absent. During those times- nothing may make sense and we can’t comprehend why all of this is happening to us.
That is why Jesus says, “pray”. That is why he promises to send us the Holy Spirit. It is during those times when it seems that Christ is not around and our prayers are not being answered that we need to focus our prayers and ask the Advocate, the comforter, the Holy ghost, the spirit of the living god to come, to speak, to guide and to glorify Christ in our lives.
When it seems that God is not around- we need the holy to come into our lives and speak. Mark Twain once stated, “ When in doubt speak the truth.” If we asked him to, the Holy Spirit would come to us and speak the truth. He will tell us some hard facts about the hard times we are going through- the truth. How we got there? How we messed up and got mixed up? – Hard truths he will speak. He won’t be silent. You see while some folks are talking around you and about you- the Holy Ghost will talk to you. And sometimes you won’t be able to turn him off. He will come to you in your sleep and speak to you in your dreams. He will disturb your concentration at work and begin to talk you. Maybe he’ll whisper a scripture in your ear or, have you hum the chorus of some old church hymn just so that you can get the answers. The Holy Ghost will speak to us and guide us in the way we should go. You see your friends are speaking to you but they are not guiding you in the right way. They are telling you about their ways. Girl friend, if I was you, I would have kick that scrub to the curb. That’s their way. If that was my child – I would take a belt or a switch and teach him a lesson. That’s their way. But Jesus says he will guide you in the truth – the right way.
How? - By glorifying Christ. He’s going to show you the way to get to me. And you see that’s the main problem for many of us who are going through difficult times- we are looking for a way out. We are looking for way to make ends meet. We are looking for all kinds of answers rather than the answer – who is Jesus Christ. Find Christ and you got your answer. In fact that’s where we make many of our mistakes in our prayers. We pray for money, we pray for healing, we pray for peace- when we should be praying for Christ. Lord, while I am dealing with this show me Christ. Glorify him in life. In Greek the word glorify means to magnify –making larger than life. During our difficult times the Holy Spirit will magnify Christ and reveal him to us.
But this is the key. To glorify also means to praise, to extol, to celebrate and to honor. When we have prayed, the holy has come, after he has spoken, and shown us where Christ is at in our crisis- then it times to let him use us to give God some praise. When those ‘little whiles’ in our lives seems to last years or and eternity- still give God some praise. Why because when it is all said and done – we will see him. He will show up. He may not come when we want him but he will be right on time. He may not come in chronos time – that’s time according to humanity – but he will come in Kairos time – that’s time according to divinity. You see the seasons are on kairos time. We have nothing to do with – spring comes after winter and summer after spring. The weather in on Kairos time – the sunshine comes after a storm. Morning comes after night. And likewise during our nights and our storms Christ will come. In a while he will show up. Just keep the faith. Ask for the Holy Spirit to come, to speak, to guide, and glorify Christ in your life. And when he shows up that’s grace – god’s Grace that causes the lost to be found and the blind to see.
