Easter weekend is upon us, and many of us have taken communion, remembering our Lord’s last meal with his beloved friends. Several of us have watched an Easter movie or two or attended a Good Friday church service to remind us of the terrible suffering Christ went through on the cross for us. Often times, we now turn our gaze toward Easter – Resurrection Sunday – the great revealing of God Who is mighty to save and victorious over all death and darkness. But I don’t want us to miss the significance of today. I don’t want us to rush into filling Easter eggs and laying out Easter outfits without considering the importance of this day of waiting.
This Saturday, sandwiched in between the intensity and despair of Good Friday and the celebration and praise of Resurrection Sunday, is like no other in the history of the world. On this day, Jesus was silent. God was silent. And in the quietness of the wait, the people forgot.
They forgot about the promise of Sunday; the promise the pain and the wait would be over.
His friends and followers should have known better. Jesus had gone over the plan. Mark 8:31 says, “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” He didn’t just haphazardly mention it in passing, He taught them the game plan. But in their despair, they forgot. They forgot their beloved friend’s promise that the pain of Friday was not the end of the story. They forgot the hope that the darkness doesn’t win. In the quietness of the wait, the people forgot.
His followers heard the words come from Jesus’ own mouth – words of promise, hope, victory, light, and life. But they let the darkness stay with them too long. They let despair cloud their thoughts. They let their hope die and get buried in the tomb. They forgot to hold the hope in their hearts while they remembered and waited with anticipation.
Silent Saturdays. We all have them at some point, and they can be brutal.
Silent Saturdays are the space between the struggle and the solution, the question and the answer, the pain and the relief, the prayer and the response.
In that space, we can all-too-easily forget what He promises us and focus instead on the suffering and the hurt. Satan wants us to stay in the pain of Friday – when death and darkness seemed to have prevailed and been victorious. He wants to convince you it’s not worth it; that Friday is the end of the story. He wants to blind you from looking forward and remembering the hope that is on the other side of the wait.
Saturdays Have Their Purpose
In the spring here in the Midwest, day after day after day can be cold, windy, and cloudy. Every couple weeks we get a glimpse of what we think spring should be, but mostly, the days in between winter and summer seem to drag on forever, and at times, it feels as if the warmth and sunshine will never actually come. When we look out at the early spring landscape, all we see is darkness; miles and miles of black soil in every direction. But beneath that cold, damp soil, millions of tiny miracles are forming, row upon row of little green plants, preparing to make their debut. You can’t hurry them along or coax them to break through the surface. The miracle of life and growth is being prepared and waiting to break through the darkness at just the right time.
But we grow impatient in the wait. We look around and see the darkness that seems to drag on forever and forget the promise of what is to come.
“Most of us want to live in the planting and growing seasons and skip the periods of waiting…”
Jennifer Dukes Lee
Those periods of waiting are crucial. Without the wait, we have no miracle and no growth. When we look around us and all we see is darkness, we can’t forget about the promise that is being prepared in places we can’t see. We hold on to the hope of what is to come. We remember and remind ourselves and each other that God is working behind the scenes. Those are the places that miracles are being prepared. Those days of waiting are where our faith begins to grow and take root as we keep watch and wait with anticipation for the miracle to push through the darkness.
If you are in the middle of a Saturday, and God feels silent, know He is right now preparing your Sunday.
His silence is not His absence. He is working in the waiting. Remember that beyond the darkness, behind the scenes, miracles are being formed. Wait with expectancy, watch with anticipation, and let your roots of faith grow deep in this season. Trust in the promise, hope, victory, light, and life that is on the other side of the Saturday.
Sunday is coming – the wait will soon be over!
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