Waiting
There is a difference between waiting on the Lord, and just waiting out a situation.
For the majority of my life, I have understood how to wait out a situation, looking forward to the day when a tough season would be over, to the day when I could breathe easy and be happy because the hard time of waiting had passed.
The older I get, one thing gets clearer and clearer: a person could literally spend the majority of their life waiting for things to change! There is nearly always something challenging in my path. Over time, the challenges have changed, but I can honestly say very few times have they been absent.
God's intention isn't always to make my life easy, but it is ALWAYS to make it good. My definition of good is shallow and incomplete, like my kid's definition of good food. If you asked my son Luke what would be good for breakfast, he would probably say ice cream! Yes, in its time and place ice cream is good, but you can't live on ice cream. God's definition of good is full and complete, lacking no good thing. His promise in Romans 8:28 is that ALL things work for the good of those who love Him and agree with Him about His purposes.
God doesn't want me to delay joy until my season changes, He wants me to learn joy now! He wants me to wait on Him for strength to do what He has called me to no matter what is happening around me and for vision to see Him in my circumstance. He is not honored by me waiting out my circumstance, holding my breath until it changes.
My ability to choose joy and wait on the Lord in any circumstance is directly proportional to the amount of actual faith I have. Those who wait on the Lord in the secret place, when the evidence of God's presence seems to be hard to find, those who choose to learn joy in the desert, who believe just because “it is written,” those who stop the train of their anxious thoughts to take time to remember from past experience that God never lies and He always makes a way...these will have their strength renewed, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow weak!
Isaiah 40:25 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God"?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
For the majority of my life, I have understood how to wait out a situation, looking forward to the day when a tough season would be over, to the day when I could breathe easy and be happy because the hard time of waiting had passed.
The older I get, one thing gets clearer and clearer: a person could literally spend the majority of their life waiting for things to change! There is nearly always something challenging in my path. Over time, the challenges have changed, but I can honestly say very few times have they been absent.
God's intention isn't always to make my life easy, but it is ALWAYS to make it good. My definition of good is shallow and incomplete, like my kid's definition of good food. If you asked my son Luke what would be good for breakfast, he would probably say ice cream! Yes, in its time and place ice cream is good, but you can't live on ice cream. God's definition of good is full and complete, lacking no good thing. His promise in Romans 8:28 is that ALL things work for the good of those who love Him and agree with Him about His purposes.
God doesn't want me to delay joy until my season changes, He wants me to learn joy now! He wants me to wait on Him for strength to do what He has called me to no matter what is happening around me and for vision to see Him in my circumstance. He is not honored by me waiting out my circumstance, holding my breath until it changes.
My ability to choose joy and wait on the Lord in any circumstance is directly proportional to the amount of actual faith I have. Those who wait on the Lord in the secret place, when the evidence of God's presence seems to be hard to find, those who choose to learn joy in the desert, who believe just because “it is written,” those who stop the train of their anxious thoughts to take time to remember from past experience that God never lies and He always makes a way...these will have their strength renewed, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow weak!
Isaiah 40:25 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God"?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
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