Pausing seems to be very closely related to waiting, but we are not talking about just stopping what you are doing. In the bible, when God pauses, it is because he has been interrupted with something that demands his attention. Even though he has a plan and knows how he is going to get there, he let’s this new activity take his time and energy in the moment. The long title of this post could be “Love Sets Aside Its Plans For Others”.
Jesus is constantly interrupted in what he was sent to do, which was to teach the people more about God. Jesus’ enemies loved to interrupt him and try to catch him in a sin and Jesus doesn’t just ignore them. He deals with them quickly. But he is also interrupted with various people’s very pressing needs and when he is interrupted, he pauses. He stops his preaching or travelling and reacts to the need. Early in his ministry (Mark 1), he goes to Peter’s house to rest, but Peter’s mother in law is in bed with a fever. He immediately goes to her and heals her. That evening after sunset, when it was time to sleep and though he was only in town to preach, the “whole town” gathered at the door and Jesus “healed many”. He pauses to take care of the people, but he restates his purpose in vs 38 (to preach) and moves on the next day. In his healing of the paralytic (Luke 5), Jesus is once again interrupted in the middle of teaching, with the appearance of a man being lowered from the roof. Talk about distracting. But Jesus pauses. He gives the man what he needs, which is forgiveness, and then he heals him which is what his audience needs. Those who he had been teaching were filled with awe. Another time, as Jesus was minding his own business and entering the town of Nain (Luke 7), he encounters a widow and her son’s funeral train. He pauses. He realizes the plight of this woman and decides to help her by raising her son though she did not even ask. Our favorite example of Jesus pausing is in Matthew 9 (and Luke 8) when he is in the middle of teaching and is interrupted by Jairus, whose daughter has died. Pretty serious stuff. Jesus decides to go with him and on the way a woman touches him and interrupts his interruption. Jesus stops his trip to Jairus’ house to encourage her and heal her, before continuing on to raise Jairus’ daughter.
What an amazing God we serve. He has plans and a purpose, but he is willing to hear us, to see us, to give us the things we need. He doesn’t just want to do things by himself, he wants us to join in, to have a relationship with him. So he pauses! And that is love.
