Attraction Queues: Waiting on God

Lines at DisneylandWhen you think of a visit to Disneyland, what comes to mind? Fun rides? Entertaining shows? Meeting characters? Having a Dole Whip or a corn dog?
 
Any or all of these may be on your list, but I’m sure this is one everyone’s list: waiting in lines. This is an unavoidable part of almost any theme park visit–it’s a fact of life. There are scores of people devoted to the task of minimizing wait times, but they still exist.
 
Disney knows this, so attraction queues (the technical term for the line/waiting area) are often highly-themed. They’re starting to make them interactive, mainly at the Walt Disney World parks for now. The Imagineers try to make the wait as painless as possible, but there will always be waits.
 
What is true of Disneyland lines?
 
  1. They don’t always move at the speed you expect. Disney posts estimated wait times, but they can be inaccurate. If you see a 30 minute wait, it may be 30 minutes, but it also could be 10 minutes…or an hour.
  2. They sometimes have interactive elements, but frequently they just involve standing and waiting. That’s all.
  3. They often set up what’s going to happen, if you’re attentive. The best and most immersive queues begin to tell the story and give you the sense of place you need to really become part of the story. Even basic ones like the Fantasyland dark rides give you hints of the feeling and story.
  4. Skipping the line can actually hamper your enjoyment, immersion, and even participation in the attraction because you bypass the setup.

 

This may seem obvious, but waiting in the queue is not being on the ride. It’s part of the attraction, it begins to make you part of it, and you may even have brief moments of participation, but the actual ride is still to come. In the meantime, you just have to wait.

 

We don’t like to wait. Waiting seems like a waste of time, but it’s one of the most valuable disciplines we can learn. It’s necessary in our relationship with God, too.

 
Many of us are familiar with Isaiah 40:31 – “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (KJV) There’s a common misconception that “wait” in this verse means to wait like a waiter in a restaurant does, actively serving. But–if you’ll pardon a quick trip into Hebrew–that’s not what this word means at all and the people who say it does are wrong.

 

If Isaiah had intended to use a word for “wait” that means this, he could have. It exists in Hebrew. But he didn’t. Instead, the word for “wait” in that verse is qavah. Qavah is from a root meaning twisting or winding a cord, and means to wait for, to hope for, to look eagerly for; to lie in wait for; linger for, to expect. It is to wait for or look for with eager expectation. It carries the idea of gathering together in oneness, being bound together.

 

When we wait on God, we usually come in with our expectations of what it looks like and how long it will take. Sometimes He moves faster than we expect, but other times we must wait much, much longer. We think we know what needs to be done but some setback comes our way and God says, “Wait. Just be with Me and put your hope in Me, not in what happens next.”

 

Sometimes there is something we can do while waiting. A good question to ask is, “Has God revealed anything to me so far about what I should do in this situation, or about myself that may be keeping me at a distance from Him?” If there is, act accordingly. Sometimes, though, this time simply requires waiting, being still.

 

If you’re anything like me, you get impatient with waiting and may try to shorten it. Sometimes that seems to work, but it nearly always shortchanges you in your relationship with God, what He wants to teach you, and how He wants to use you. By bypassing the waiting time He wanted for you, you’re not prepared to fully experience what He had in store for you.

 

“Waiting on the Lord” means being in His presence, spending time with Him, just for the purpose of being with Him. The Bible also says that He is the potter and we are the clay. The clay can only be shaped by the potter when it is in his presence. From that comes the strength to do.

 

Some people sit too long and use this verse as an excuse not to do anything, but others skip past the “being” and move straight on to the “doing,” which is an equal problem. It’s important to note that the results of waiting are, “renewed strength”, “mount up”, “run”, and “walk”. The waiting gives us the ability to do–and so we only fully understand and experience this promise by both waiting (“being”) and serving (“doing”).

 

Waiting for an attraction requires patience, but it also sets up the experience so when you finally do enter the attraction you’re doing it as part of the story, aware of what’s happening and (usually) why, and able to fully experience it. Waiting on the Lord does the same thing in your life and mine.

 

Question: Do you find it difficult to wait on the Lord? Now that you know what it means, what can you do today to intentionally wait on God? Talk about it in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.



Randy CraneRandy Crane is passionate about helping Christians, especially those with a Disney affinity, to discover and connect to their GOD-GIVEN PURPOSE AND VALUE, to build their lives to achieve TRUE SUCCESS AND MEANING, and to POSITIVELY IMPACT their world. For more than two decades, Randy has been leading individuals and teams into a greater joy and child-like appreciation of the world around them, equipping them to reach beyond what they have previously experienced and build a God-given identity and purpose. Ready to experience that for yourself? Tell us where to send SIX free videos all created to help answer the 3 questions you need to experience PEACE, FREEDOM, and PURPOSE!

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