When Will the Long Drought End?

In 2016 the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in seven games to win the World Series, ending a 108 year drought for the Cubbies. Not only did winning the Series end that long drought, it also ended one of the longest running superstitions in professional sports. According to legend, in 1945, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis brought his beloved pet goat to Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field. Because of the goat’s odor, he was asked to leave the ballpark, and upon exiting, allegedly shouted, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” The Cubs, who were up two games at the time, ended up losing Game 4, going on to lose the best-of-seven series, four games to three, and thus, “The Curse of the Billy Goat” was born.

For some of you, you too are in the midst of a long dry spell, and you wonder when it will end. Or maybe you have been praying for something for what seems like an eternity, but so far, no answer from God. Or at least not the answer you hope for.

Regardless of what you’ve been waiting for, I think you will agree; we are not a society that waits well. We have no patience for waiting.

When we moved back to Pennsylvania a few years ago, the farmhouse we were living in at the time had no office space, so I did most of my writing at the kitchen table. Every day as I wrote, one of our cats was very patiently waiting for me to pet him. He just sat in the window sill, in no hurry to go anywhere, simply waiting and waiting. When I got up, he got up and followed me. When I sat back down, back up into the window sill he went. Just waiting. I could learn a lot from the patience of cats. 

Usually when we think of waiting, we think passive, sit back with feet propped up, and wait – “I will wait until it stops raining to go outside.” But waiting on God is anything but passive. In Psalm 27, David expresses that waiting on God involves trusting (vv.1-3), seeking (4-6), and praying (7-12). And the hopeful psalm ends like this – “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (13-14).

“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5).

So today, even if it seems like you have been waiting since 1908, know this – “The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25).