Day 5: Waiting on the Lord
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for him!
Isaiah 30:18
My sisters, I deeply apologize for posting SO late in the day today! I have had many unexpected things this weekend! I pray this week will wrap up nicely for everyone, and that the lessons learned will be many and life changing! I praise God for each of you!!!
Well, if you didn't know your way around the Bible before, you certainly have gotten a good amount of practice this week! I loved it!! I always think it's awesome when we see the Old and New Testaments come together to reveal more of who God is!
God's people, the Israelites. How different am I from them, really? There means of survival and food was provided directly from God through manna, provision, guidance, and they still chose to direct their allegiance elsewhere. In fact, when Moses was on the mountain and they could visibly see God's glory and presence in the form of a "consuming fire" at the top, they went to Aaron, Moses' right hand man, and asked him to make....That's right, make, a god for them to follow! What?!!! I can hardly comprehend this. What about you? But the more I think on this idea, the more I realize I may do this in a different form. The Israelites literally had nothing but what God gave them. They didn't have our modern day distractions--shopping, every conceivable toy you can imagine, the internet, making money, TV, talk shows.... The list could go on. What I'm getting at is we may not ask someone else to make us a god, we make them ourselves in the form of the previously mentioned distractions! Something or someone else to follow!
Waiting on the Lord is not easy, it's not very fun either. Well, waiting on anyone is not all that fun! Right now I'm thinking of a song I learned in my childhood (and hated), but now I sing to my kids! (Ha ha!) Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you always start to worry. Remember, remember that God is patient too, and think of all the times when others have to wait for you. Yeah, I know, kinda cheesy. This song does bring to light, however, the fact that others wait on us, and even more so, God waits on us too! We would like for others and God to be patient with us, so why are we often hesitant to be patient with other people. Our husbands, our children, our friends, other drivers on the road... anyone else?... Here's a chance for us to renew our minds about waiting. If the Israelites had only waited on the Lord a little longer, they wouldn't have had to deal with the outcome of disobedience! How often could we avoid sin and disobedience if we just wait a little longer?
I liked Beth Moore's question, "Why might they have been so vulnerable to such disobedience?" It really made me think. The answer I came up with was that perhaps they became used to God's provision, and began to no longer see it as such. Have you done this before? You would think each day having to go out and gather the manna, they would gather it with such gratefulness and with full knowledge of their Provider. However, as we've learned, we have access to God's mercy every morning if we would be willing to go out and gather it and acknowledge His presence through it! Have we become so used to God's presence that we forget it or cease to recognize it? One of my constant prayers, because we see so many examples of this in Scripture, is that I will not miss Christ's work in my life and all around me! I pray that prayer for each of you today!
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14
When you feel weary of waiting on the Lord, what do you do? Is anyone out there in a waiting period right now? What should our response be to a time of waiting?
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4 comments:
Sara, thank you for your leadership this week. You have done a great job of studying these stories and reminding us of great verses for reflection.
I think today's post draws a close connection to day four. The Israelites were living such desperate lives, they really needed to see how God was working for them - and it was a daily need. Without the working of the Holy spirit, so many of them were insecure and unsure of what God was doing. I can imagine how a few of them spoke up about their insecurity and others started to follow until Aaron returned. They were able to voice their fears. Clearly they made the wrong choice in choosing to worship an idol, but how many times do I make the wrong choice by not drawing closer to God as I wait for Him.
I just got married in August - and it has been a great blessing. But for several years before I met Zach I was living the life of a young, single career woman. It was great - but my heart was yearning to build a Christian family. Those years of waiting were some of the best years of my relationship with God. Waiting for Him to show me His plans gave me the opportunity to see Him as my first love. When I started dating Zach, and talking with him every night, there was sadness sometimes in thinking that God was no longer my only man. I had a lot of readjustments to make. There is some work in seeing the love that I have for Him in a different way now that I am a married woman. I guess my point is that I was often uncomfortable in the process of waiting, but the waiting gave me an awesome opportunity to love God more. The questioning and frustration led me to a closer personal relationship with Him.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
1 Corithians 10:13
This verse really reassured what I already knew. God doesn’t give us anything that we can’t handle. Even when Satan is waving something so tempting and so wrong in our face, God is standing their very patiently with a way out. But in the end it is our choice to make!
There are times when I long to feel God’s presence, or just to see a “sign” so that I know he’s listening to me. Why do I have to be so stinkin’ impatient? This must be how the Israelites felt. Beth asked "Why might they have been so vulnerable to such disobedience?" My answer is that even though they saw God through a cloud, or in fire they wanted something physical right in front of them to worship. They got tired of waiting for another “sign” to see God, so they created their own idol that they could physically see and touch.
I am one to be very impatient! When I want something done, I want it done right away. I hate procrastination. I don’t know why I’m this way, I just know that it nags me to death until I do it, and then once I do it I realize how selfish I was for making that such a priority. God waits so patiently for us to come to him. Why do I have to be so impatient with the smallest little things?!?
Sara, you said, “One of my constant prayers, because we see so many examples of this in Scripture, is that I will not miss Christ's work in my life and all around me!” This is one of my fears. I don’t want to miss God’s calling, or even him speaking to me for that matter. I don’t want to shove him aside because I’ve already moved on to something else due to my impatience. I’m trying my hardest to wait eagerly for him to speak to me and listen contently with an open mind and open heart!
maeve, i can imagine that the adjustments you are making are big! i'm sure you're learning how trust God and each other more every day! marriage is an adjustment no matter when it happens! shane and i didn't have a long single life without each other, but there were plenty of things we had to make adjustments for each other! i loved your testimony about trusting God in the waiting process--and wasn't it worth the wait?!!!
sarah, it IS good to know that nothing will come our way that we can't handle... well, actually, i sort of believe that plenty comes our way that we can't handle, the key is the part in the verse where it says "GOD will provide a way out." it's SO important for us to focus on God and realize that when we surrender to Him, He will take care of us, lead us the right direction and always provide what we need--be it physical needs, emotional, spiritual, etc. He is our true Provider--in every aspect of life!! i'm so thankful for your excitement and enthusiasm and your willingness to share your struggles. you are so real, and it's obvious you want to share and encourage others! thank you!
i am in a waiting period right now w/ my schooling. i am waiting to hear if i've been accepted into a nursing program that will start in january. i am waiting to hear from God how He will take care of my family during this time. i am waiting... instead of planning... i am waiting... so, this week was really good for me! once again, isn't it awesome how God speaks straight to our hearts?!! (even when we may not want to hear it!) so, in effort to try and learn from israel's mistakes, i am going to wait a little longer--the glory of the Lord is just around the corner, and i do NOT want to miss it!!!
Oh I forgot to say that I'm in a waiting period too. I filled out the information for that home care position that I would work one day a week. I'm waiting to hear from them to see if I'm a fit or not.
Maeve, I too thought what you said about your relationship with God & him being the only man in your life was amazing. It just shows how he was preparing you to love, to love the man he created you for. Marriage isn't always easy, but it's easier to know that God put you together for a reason.
Sara, I will be praying for you and your situation with school. He has a tremendous plan for you, but as I know myself, it's not alwasy easy being patient!
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