Our dog Greta barely passed her Doggie Obedience class. She failed miserably the sit, stay, and heel part of class. But she was the all-star, the top dog in her class in one category….. it was when the command “COME” was given. During this part of the class she was put on the opposite end of the gym from our daughter Brooke and then when called to “come!”, she was supposed to come. Well, Greta more than came, she CHARGED with all her puppy energy and galloped way ahead of all the other puppies to her beloved owner waiting for her, calling her from the other end of the gym.

Greta will be 10 years old this Spring. And she still doesn’t sit, stay or heel very well. In fact, she is very sneaky, sneaky when it comes to the sit and stay part. Oh, she’ll sit and stay …..for a few seconds. Or for as long as you are standing over her continuing to say, “stay, stay….” But if you leave front and center position to relax on the grass near her or duck out of her sight around the corner….she gives up the wait game quick as a blink.

Waiting is hard for Greta. And waiting is hard for me.

And waiting was hard for the Israelites.
God told Moses to come up to Him on the mountain “and wait there” for Him to give him the tablets of stone that had His commandments on it.
Moses told the elders to “wait here” until he and Joshua returned to them.

Moses and his assistant Joshua went up into the mountain of God but before he left them Moses told the elders to “Wait here for us until we return to you.”….UNTIL WE RETURN TO YOU. He didn’t tell them how long they’d be waiting, Moses probably didn’t know himself, but he did tell them what they were to wait for, his return.
It was a crystal clear instruction.

The LORD also told Moses to wait. He said to Moses to come up to Him on the mountain “and wait there”….He didn’t tell him how long he’d be waiting but again, He told him what he’d be waiting for….”the tablets of stone with the law and the commandment”.

So Moses went. And the elders / leaders stayed.
And everyone waited.

Moses waited 6 days…during which time he saw the cloud, the glory of the Lord, covering the mountain. And then on the 7th day, God called out to Moses from the cloud….and then for the rest of the next 40 days Moses met with God receiving an enormous amount of detailed instruction about a sanctuary he was to oversee being built ….and then at the end of his time on the mountaintop, he got the 2 stone tablets.

The Israelites waited 40 days…..during which time they knew nothing about what was going on between Moses and God. All they knew was what Moses told them, “wait here until we return to you”. Then from what they could see from a distance, the top of that mountain where Moses went looked like it was being devoured by fire. They said about Moses that they did “not know what has become of him”. From the sight, sound, and smell of things….Moses was most likely burnt toast.

So they figured their waiting was over. No “plan B” had been given to them by Moses so they took matters into their own hands.
After being persuaded by the people, Aaron who was left in charge, made a golden calf and built an alter before it. Then declared a feast to the LORD for the next day. Burnt offerings and peace offerings were given. “And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

Right before all of this happened, ALL of the people of Israel, Aaron and the elders included said, “ALL the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
They had affirmed their loyalty, declared their obedience, proclaimed in unity their commitment to do all that God told them to do.
And then He asked them to wait.
And all heck broke loose.

Greta and I can relate to the sin, the flat out failing of the Israelites in this story.
Moses went “out of sight” after saying wait here…..“sit and stay” Greta / Jill.
We don’t know exactly how far into the 40 days they quit waiting but surely it was some time after they saw the top of the mountain on fire and knowing that that was where Moses was going, they assumed the worst after a period of time. Naturally.

They were waiting. Then they stopped waiting.
God WAS working, they just couldn’t see it. They only saw the fire and made inaccurate assumptions.
And then they thought surely their wait was over.

It’s shocking to me to read what happened starting on the 7th day when God spoke to Moses from on top of the mountain. My best calculations are that for the next 33 days, Moses got instructions, LOTS of detailed instructions from God about contributions for the Sanctuary, the Ark of the Covenant, the Table for Bread, the Golden Lampstand, the Tabernacle, the Bronze Alter, the Court of the Tabernacle, the Oil for the Lamp, the Priest’s Garments, the Consecration of the Priests, the Alter of Incense, the Bronze Basin, the Anointing Oil and Incense, and the name of one man specifically whom God was filling with His Spirit, ability, intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship to do the work and lead the charge for all that He was commanding concerning the construction and creation of the Sanctuary. Whew! That was a lot of information! Then God reminded Moses of the necessity of keeping the Sabbath.

And then. And then (finally!) after God had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of stone.
Those tablets that Moses had made the trek up the mountain for in the first place.

I don’t think Moses knew it would be 40 days and 40 nights before he returned when he started up the mountain.
It seems like he didn’t know in advance that he would be given 33 days of instruction – 7 chapters in my bible – about building the sanctuary where God’s presence would dwell.
I wonder if Moses just thought he’d pop up the mountain, “pop up” reverently of course, and pick up the said two tablets and rejoin his party at the bottom of the mountain.

As I read this story and wrestle with the concept of waiting, or not waiting, my own sin is exposed.
I feel the restlessness of my own heart, the doubting of instructions that are clear, and more fundamental still, the doubting of the goodness of God and His good and wise plan for me.

Waiting isn’t natural. And it isn’t easy. Especially when we don’t know how long we have to wait. Or exactly “what” we are waiting for.
When I tell Greta to “wait” (stay), I don’t always have a treat in my hand. Oftentimes she doesn’t know “what” she is waiting for or how long her wait will be.
When God tells me to “wait”, most of the time I don’t know how long my waiting will last. And I don’t know the “for sure” outcome of what my wait will be. And my heart can quickly become restless and I can easily begin to doubt the goodness of God in my wait and mistrust His sovereignty in the outcome of my waiting.

I think I feel like Greta might feel ……DO dogs have ‘feelings’ ??! honestly…. Anyway I feel like Greta might feel when I have told her to “stay” and then I pop around the corner, out of her sight.
I know in areas of my life God is telling me to “stay” / “wait”. But sometimes it feels like He has popped out of sight. And it’s been way longer than I think He must have intended for me to “wait”. And I forget that “wait” means “wait”. And He is in control not only of the outcome of the wait but of the length of the wait.
AND if He chooses to do more than I thought He was going to do in the wait (give me 33 days of instruction in addition to “just” giving me the stone tablets) then I need to wait patiently, and TRUST the heart of God. Trust His ways. Trust His good and perfect plan and purposes.

I say, “Yes, LORD, YES! I’ll do all that you ask of me.”
And then He asks me to wait a little longer than I think necessary. Or surrender a little more than I feel should be be required (leaving Wesley in MO, my Billings fitness center, my large kitchen, triathlons and running…)
and I get restless and impatient, turn back, cave in, make my own Plan B and proceed in pride and without reverence for God’s instruction.
When I fail miserably in the God instructed “waits” of life, and I do, often, I want to learn from my failings, learn more of who God says He is and lean hard into Him for the next wait that is surely coming.
And I also want to run hard back to Him, flat out-as fast-as-I-can-run my way back to Him like Greta used to puppy-charge her way back to Brooke.
And stay close to Him, abide with Him until He calls me to the next wait.

Lord, forgive my pride. Forgive my restless heart that forgets to find it’s rest in you, alone.
Remind me that You are working in my waiting.
And that “if You’re not done working God, I’m not done waiting.”
Oh for Your grace to wait, wait on You, with a quiet, content, and trust-filled heart.