Greetings in the name of the ‘Light of the World’, Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! Wow! another beautiful morning and as the day beging to unfold the sun is getting brighter and it reminds me of a verse of Scripture: The path of the righteous is like the morning sun shining ever brighter until the full light of day – Proverbs 4:18. We come to the end of another week and I trust that it has been a good week for you and now you have opportunity to have some “Selah-tme”. I pray that God would reveal Himself to you in ways that you can understand and respond to.
Over the past days have unfolded there is one thing that God says to me through my beautiful wife and through loving family-friends that really irks me. They say to me, on His behalf – “Wait! – This healing process is going to take time – Be patient…one day at a time! Use this time to draw closer to Father.” I don’t like waiting!…does anyone really like to “wait?” This morning I decided to do a little study on “waiting” and see if God would say something to me that would soothe my anxious mind and spirit. First, He gave me these words : Here’s the one thing I want – I crave – from God, the thing I seek above all else. I want the privilege of living with Him every moment in His house, finding the sweet loveliness of His face; filled with awe, delighting in His glory and grace. I want to live so close to Him that He takes pleasure in my every prayer. In His shelter in the day of trouble, that’s where you’ll find me, for He hides me there in His holiness. He has smuggled me into His secret place where I am safe and secure. …Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up, don’t be impatient; be entwined with the Lord. Be brave, be courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep waiting–for He will never disappoint you! Psalm 27:4-5, 14 TPT.
The second thing I learned…”wait” in some form or other appears some 160 times in the Bible…and in fact from Genesis to Revelation, one of the key themes is – “waiting”. However, it is not the simple act of “waiting” – it is the “how of waiting” that is essential. Over and over again we are told to “wait” – with strength, with good courage, with joy, with expectation, silently, allowing our soul to be nourished by the intimacy of His presence, and without murmuring or complaining. I expect it is not the act of “waiting” that bothers me but it is exercising the qualities needed to live in the “how to wait”. It is as if the discipline of “waiting” is one of the key spiritual practices for a Christ-follower.
Third thing I learned…and I borrow these phrases from James MacDonald…is why is “waiting” so difficult: because people who don’t know how to wait suck the intimacy of the process away from us; because it is really hard to “wait” , it isn’t natural to us ; because it hurts to “wait” – Hope (waiting) deferred makes the heart sick – Proverbs 13:12.
All of this brings me back to verse that He first gave me – if I really want to experience the power and pleasure of that experience…I have to learn “how to wait” – after all we have read the last chapter and it is really exciting…we just have to “wait”.
Something to think about — have a great weekend and be blessed!