You've probably heard some variation of the Island joke before. There's a particularly trenchant one below, copied
from Wikipedia:
A Scottish Presbyterian is rescued after many years on a desert island. As he stands on the deck of the rescuing vessel, the captain says to him, "I thought you were stranded alone. How come I can see three huts on the beach?"
"Well," replies the castaway, "that one there is my house and that one there is where I go to Church."
"And the third one?" asks the skipper.
"Oh, that's my old Church."
The joke is funny because, sadly, leaving one's church has become an expected, almost inevitable behavior. I have felt personally frustrated by attitudes that venture in this direction — always from a distance, and without any of the requisite facts, mind you. There are, I'm sure, many legitimate reasons to move on from a church.
Lately I've been reading Andrew Murray's
Waiting on God (available
in text,
in EPUB, or
on paper), and it has proved to be really fruitful. I was especially struck by the meditiation for Day 17, which upended the way I thought about this phenomenon.
"I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him." Isaiah 8:17
Here we have a servant of God, waiting upon Him, not on behalf of himself, but of his people, from whom God was hiding His face. It suggests to us how our waiting upon God, though it commences with our personal needs, with the desire for the revelation of Himself, or for the answer to personal petitions, need not, may not, stop there. We may be walking in the full light of God's countenance, and God yet be hiding His face from His people around us; far from being content to think that this is nothing but the just punishment of their sin, or the consequence of their indifference, we are called with tender hearts to think of their sad estate, and to wait on God on their behalf. The privilege of waiting upon God is one that brings great responsibility. Even as Christ, when He entered God's presence, at once used His place of privilege and honor as intercessor, so we, no less, if we know what it is really to enter in and wait upon God, must use our access for our less favored brethren. "I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth His face from the house of Jacob."
You worship with a certain congregation. Possibly there is not the spiritual life or joy either in the preaching or in the fellowship that you could desire. You belong to a Church, with its many congregations. There is so much of error or worldliness, of seeking after human wisdom and culture, or trust in ordinances and observances, that you do not wonder that God hides His face, in many cases, and that there is but little power for conversion or true edification.
Then there are branches of Christian work with which you are connected - a Sunday school, a gospel hall, a young men's association, a mission work abroad - in which the feebleness of the Spirit's working appears to indicate that God is hiding His face. You think, too, you know the reason, There is too much trust in men and money; there is too much formality and self-indulgence; there is too little faith and prayer; too little love and humility; too little of the spirit of the crucified Jesus. At times you feel as if things were hopeless; nothing will help.
Do believe that God can help and will help. Let the spirit of the prophet come into you, as you value his words, and set yourself to wait on God, on behalf of His erring children. Instead of the tone of judgment or condemnation, of despondency or despair, realize your calling to wait upon God. If others fail in doing it, give yourself doubly to it. The deeper the darkness, the greater the need of appealing to the one only Deliverer. The greater the self-confidence around you, that knows not that it is poor and wretched and blind, the more urgent the call on you who profess to see the evil and to have access to Him who alone can help, to be at your post waiting upon God. Say on each new occasion, when you are tempted to speak or to sigh: "I will wait on the Lord, who hideth His face from the house of Jacob."
There is a still larger circle - the Christian Church throughout the world. Think of Greek, Roman Catholic, and Protestant Churches, and the state of the millions that belong to them. Or think only of the Protestant Churches with their open Bible and orthodox creeds. How much nominal profession and formality, how much of the rule of the flesh and of man in the very temple of God! And what abundant proof that God does hide his face!
What are those who see and mourn this to do? The first thing to be done is this: "I will wait on the Lord, who hideth His face from the house of Jacob." Let us wait on God, in the humble confession of the sins of His people. Let us take time and wait on Him in this exercise. Let us wait on God in tender, loving intercession for all saints, our beloved brethren, however wrong their lives or their teaching may appear. Let us wait on God in faith and expectation, until He shows us that He will hear. Let us wait on God, with the simple offering of ourselves to Himself, and the earnest prayer that He would send us to our brethren. Let us wait on God, and give Him no rest till He makes Zion a joy in the earth.
Yes, let us rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him who now hides His face from so many of His children. And let us say of the lifting up of the light of His countenance we long for all His people, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and my hope is in His word. My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than the watchers for the morning, the watchers for the morning."
"My soul, wait thou only upon God!"
Yes, there may be something lacking in your church —
many things, most likely. There are myriad points of friction in any group of sinners, and as a result, myriad complaints. The Church is no exception, and is rather a prime example. People are apathetic about the programs, the preaching, or the church's direction. Summer vacation, sunny days, and sporting events all encroach upon Sunday morning worship. People stop showing up to things, stop volunteering, stop giving. The coffee is cold and weak.
Et cetera,
et cetera.
A lack of waiting upon God is partly responsible for the revolving door church experience. People assume that if they are powerless to change what they dislike about a church, God must "want" them elsewhere — as if Church were just another personally gratifying step towards self-actualization, and God would never call them to endure something that felt awkward or unfulfilling. But this meditation suggests more: that being a meta-critic is
also an unproductive, unfaithful response. That is, wringing one's hands and despairing of the fickle, flippant, fussy people with whom one worships will simply reveal one's own fickle and flippant nature.
That result — leaving a church for one's own convenience — is simply one square our deceitful hearts might land on. One could just as easily become an entrenched and embittered fixture in a church, a constant and true attender worshipping one's own righteousness from the pew of despondency. That's why this quote is so poignant to me:
"Instead of the tone of judgment or condemnation, of despondency or despair, realize your calling to wait upon God. If others fail in doing it, give yourself doubly to it. The deeper the darkness, the greater the need of appealing to the one only Deliverer."
Remember what Jesus says in Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Wait on God for
his deliverance. It will come.
