I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
Those of you who read my posts regularly know that I recently posted that our church was considering a merger with another church that is slightly larger than ours. I am out of town right now and Sunday, I started getting messages one after another on my phone from our Bible Study group. They were all happy about the news announced in church that day. Since I hadn’t been there, I asked “What news?” The news was that the pastors and elders of our church had decided to no longer pursue a merger. Hallelujah! No real details were given about their decision, just “after careful consideration and prayer…”
So, the scriptures prove true once again. No surprise there! We were all in a dither about what we would do if the merger happened, especially since the way it was presented to us, it seemed like a “done deal.” Most of us in our group planned to start looking for another church if the merger came to be. But we all determined to pray, speak out about our reasons for reluctance for change and then wait for God to act. Somehow, in some way, he touched minds and hearts and they changed. It is definitely a God thing to do and we are thankful. So, worrying doesn’t do any good. It just brings stress and anxiety and maybe some health issues. Just turn things over to God and wait for Him to act! I am still very unhappy with the noise level of the bass and percussion at our church, but I am still praying and still expecting God to act. I don’t want to take any action that God is not the leader of. Out of His will is NOT a good place to be!
Knock and keep knocking until there is an answer! Yes, No or Wait are all answers, although they may not be the one we want or expect.
Hope is everywhere we look, but many of us are looking in the wrong place and to the wrong person for hope. For me, hope is found in the sparkling eyes of our grandchildren. They are hope for a bright and promising future. Hope is found in the rose bush that is currently dormant. It will bloom again in the spring, but right now it’s just waiting for its time. Hope is in the cardinals that hop around outside my window. They trust in their Creator to provide for them, and sometimes we help out by putting out bird seed for them. Hope…it’s in the trusting and waiting that hope is really found.
God is the God of hope. As we trust in Him, then we can have hope and the bonus of joy and peace. Thursday was a hard day for us here at the Watts household. We were awakened before six with the carbon monoxide detector beeping because the electricity had gone off. We waited quietly in bed for a few minutes, hoping it would flash back on, but since it didn’t, I got up and called Dominion Virginia Power. I went through a bunch of automated hoops and was ultimately told that I was the first one to report an outage and there was no estimated time of restoration. Knowing it was in the low teens outside, I fed our cat and went back to our warm bed. About nine, I got up again to a much colder house (it was about 58 degrees at that time, according to our thermometer on the wall of our bedroom), so I got my phone and checked the outage map. No info there, so I called Dominion again. This time, there was a technical issue, so I got to talk to a live person. She was very considerate and kind and said she did not know an estimated time of restoration but there were others out in our area. A few hours later, I checked the outage map again, found out that in our rural area, there were 160 people without electricity and the technicians were out trying to find the problem. The estimated time of restoration was by one o’clock. So, I bundled up and sat in my chair to take my blood pressure so I could take my morning meds. That done, I took my bundled self back to bed, with the temperature in the mid 50’s in the house now. I fell asleep for about an hour, got up and checked the outage map again. It had changed slightly. Now, only 111 were without power, so some had their problem fixed, just not us. I contacted the people in our small group from church and asked for prayer. Harry had surgery on Wednesday and was not feeling well enough to venture out to someplace warmer. So, we stayed in and bundled up as much as possible. One friend from church offered to let us come stay with her, which was very kind and offered hope (just in case Dominion couldn’t get the power back on that day). I was sitting in my chair with four layers on (blankets and jackets plus clothes and winter underwear) when I suddenly saw our digital frames come on. Then, I heard the heater start. Praise God! Our electricity came back on at almost exactly one p.m. Wonder how Dominion did that? So, I waited until the house got over 60 degrees and started to shed layers. I turned the breaker back on for the water heater. (Did you know that when the electricity goes off you are supposed to turn off the breaker for the water heater so the element doesn’t burn up? A good plumber friend told us that long ago when we first moved into our countryside dwelling.) Anyway, by 3 p.m., the house was warm, the hot water was restored, the electronic gadgets had been reset and I was finally able to do my online devotional. The plan is always to do my devotionals first thing in the morning before I get distracted or busy, but Thursday was a crazy day. Taking care of Harry, electrical issues, electronics issues and the cat kept me busy for a while. So, what does all of this have to do with hope? I HOPED that the power company would get the electricity back on soon and be safe as they worked. In fact, I prayed for the safety of the linemen that were out in the very cold weather trying to help me and 159 other families. I had HOPE that if our electricity did not return before dark, we could go to Bonnie’s house, about fifteen minutes away, and have warmth and light. Through it all, I had HOPE that God was with us and would keep us safe. And He did! We were not particularly comfortable in our many layers, but we were safe and warm enough that we could fall asleep in the middle of the crisis. I have to confess that I was not feeling especially joyful, but I didn’t feel frantic or out-of-sorts which is my usual go-to mood when things don’t go as planned. Instead, I felt peace, knowing that God was in control, of the weather, the electricity, the linemen and us as well as all the others in the same powerless condition as us.
Once the power came back on and I was doing my devotional, a truth struck me. We are all powerless without God, unable to function as we should and to carry on with our daily life because we aren’t plugged into our power source. He is our only source of hope in a life that has some unexpected surprises sometimes.
In our finite minds, sometimes it is hard to conceive that God, who is infinite, chooses the timing that is best for us. In our world of instant gratification for just about everything, we want to hurry it all up. But we need to trust that God knows exactly what He is doing and how to do things at the right time for all of us.
God could have sent Abraham and Sarah a son when they were younger, but then what kind of miracle would that have been and how would it have grown their faith? Abraham is known as a man of faith because he believed that God would fulfill His promise in spite of the fact that he was old.
Christ came to the world at just the right time, but He also came into each of our lives at just the right time. When Christ was introduced to me, I was alone in my first apartment, lonely and really needing friendships. A neighbor became my friend and introduced me to the Savior who would be my eternal friend, especially needed as less than a year later, I became a military wife and began a series of moves to new places where I leaned in to Jesus, His guidance and His love.
When we are having a tough time, we wonder where is God and why He is not immediately rescuing us. The answer is that God can use what we go through to teach us more about Him, His character and His deep love for us. If He always intervenes right away, we don’t learn anything but to expect Him to stop the pain and then we go on our merry way. The expectation of God is that we humble ourselves before Him, wait for Him to act and appreciate whatever He does for us. It may not be the answer we expect or in the time we wanted it, but whenever God answers will be what is best for us and at the perfect time for us.
Waiting is hard, but not waiting may have consequences that we don’t really want to go through.
There Was Jesus: In the Waiting (You Version Devotional, “There Was Jesus” by Zach Williams)
One of the things we all can agree on is that, as a culture, we’re not good at waiting; we’ve invented so many ways to get out of waiting in lines, waiting on food to cook and waiting for paint to dry. I’ll admit, I’ve been conditioned to expect things quickly and right when I ask. When I read a verse like Isaiah 40:31, where it lists out the wonderful things that can happen when we wait on God, it’s challenging to follow through, especially when times are tough. I believe our impatience comes from our need to remain in control. It’s scary and goes against what we naturally want to do in most situations; hold tight and only trust ourselves. God has given us guidance on the best way to live, and sometimes, the best way to allow God to have control of a situation is to wait on Him. It requires existing in a space that feels unknown, trusting in His process, and believing that He has a plan for our lives. Easier said than done, right? What should we be doing during the waiting? Romans 12:12 tells us to be “constant in prayer.” While we’re waiting on God’s timing, prayer helps connect us to Him and helps us to focus our faith. Ephesians 4:2 tells us that we should spend our time loving others, being gentle with each other, and to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” Basically, God has asked us to trust Him with the timing, but to walk along with Him in the meantime.
Waiting on God doesn’t mean we’re separated from Him. He’s always right alongside us. Exodus 14:14 tells us, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” He’s fighting for us and with us in the waiting and the searching, every minute and every moment.
My Thoughts
I don’t know about you, but waiting is hard for me. I am not so much “in an instant”as in my own timing. I don’t like to wait because, as the author of the devotional wrote, it means I have to relinquish my control over something. Change and waiting throws me, every time. I try to be in prayer and wait, but I get anxious, and my blood pressure soars. I try not to be anxious, but that doesn’t work because in trying not be anxious, I get more anxious. It’s like I am on a Ferris wheel, stuck on the top and unable to get off or to make the thing move and get me back down to the ground. So, I am working on learning to calm my thoughts and think about Jesus walking beside me, or even sitting in that Ferris wheel next to me, holding my hand and asking me to tell Him about my day. I’m glad that He is patiently still working on me.
This morning, I got up early and got ready for my appointment with my neurologist. Every year since my stroke, I have to go in to get a Doppler on my carotid artery. The procedure isn’t painful so it’s not a big deal. That is, until an hour and a half before I am supposed to leave, the doctor’s office calls, says there is a problem with today’s schedule and wants me to come in tomorrow. You would think that I would roll with the punches, as they say, just write down the new time and move on. Well, instead, I had to juggle another appointment to take my car in for brake work and there were two changes to the schedule this week already. Not bad, right? Unless you have my body and my mind which has its own way of dealing with change and waiting…my blood pressure soared and I had to take my extra pill that is only for such occasions as this. As my husband says, I am not conditioned for change because change in my home growing up meant my mom would get angry and I would be the target. I have basically spent my whole life trying to avoid change, but then along comes God who wants me to get accustomed to it so He can teach me that change is not a bad thing. I am now putting myself into His capable and loving hands and praying for my BP to regulate so my head will stop pounding. I am doing my deep breathing exercises and reading my Bible while I also pray. There is no magic formula for me to de-stress when change happens, but believe it or not, I am getting better at accepting the waiting part of change. My body still reacts physically, but my heart is calmer, knowing that the Lord is right beside me. He is waiting, too, for me to be calm enough to listen. So, appointment tomorrow…no problem! Car on Wednesday, not a big deal. God’s got this and me, in His hands and He is molding me to be more like him. After all, that is what I have been praying for. And if this change and waiting stuff is what it takes, then I am ready to fight that stress battle with the Lord holding my hand and speaking in my ear!
We all have schedules and some of us still have deadlines to meet and responsibilities at work that have to be done on a certain time. So when are told that God doesn’t work on our timetable, it may boggle our mind. We say to ourselves (and to God, if we are being completely honest), “Look, I know you are busy and I am tryin to wait patiently here, but I need this today, or tomorrow at the latest.” Those words may work with co-workers and might even work with our spouses or other family members. But they don’t work with God because all of time is on HIS schedule, not ours. If we are waiting, then God has a reason for us to wait and something He is doing while we wait. God sees the whole picture while we see a tiny little corner of it and think we know what is going on and what needs to happen within our time limits. God knows exactly what we need and exactly when we need it, so He works on His own timetable, not ours. Disappointing to those of us who are A-type personalities and just want things done right and quickly. God always does things right, but He may not do them as quickly as we tend to demand or the exact way we think it should all be done. Step back in your time of waiting and let God be God…He will do things in His time and in His way and in such a way that you will marvel (or may even forget) your original request.
I was impressed deeply when I read Jehoshaphat’s prayer this morning in my devotional. He is pressed by a great horde of enemies since several nations have joined forces against Judah. So, he prays to the Lord and this is part of His prayer.
Sometimes, I feel as though “a great horde” is attacking my soul. Battle follows battle, whether it is for my health, a death in the family, a beloved one’s struggles with their health, or the spiritual battle that I face daily inside my heart as my husband spouts off the latest bad news from our unspiritual and ungodly leaders. All of these together combine to make a great horde in my life. You probably have a number of attackers as well. It is the life we live…God gives us peace in the battles but He does not promise that we won’t have to face conflicts.
What is the solution? Jehoshaphat offers that as the verse continues. We need to admit that we don’t know what to do. Confess to God that we have done all that we know how in our finite minds and yet still we are beset by the enemy and feeling that defeat may be coming. Then, we just have to be still and keep our eyes on God. Jehoshaphat did not say, “Okay, let’s gather a large army against them and all of our best weapons. “ No, he waited and kept his eyes on God. If you open II Chronicles 20 and read it for yourself, it says:
”You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”“ 2 Chronicles 20:17 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ch.20.17.ESV
These are the words from the Lord to the people as they stood waiting for Him after hearing Jehoshaphat’s prayer. So, how did the victory come?
”And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.“ 2 Chronicles 20:22 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ch.20.22.ESV
The LORD set an ambush against the enemies. He stepped into the middle of the fray and He defeated them.
What can we learn from Jehoshaphat’s prayer? First of all, our enemies are many and powerful. As a conservative Christian, I look around at all that is happening, shake my head and cannot believe that I am still living in America. But if we admit that we are powerless, that God has all of the sovereignty and it is ultimately His battle, then we can rest in His promise to bring the victory. We don’t know how or when it will come, but it is on its way as long as we are waiting on the Lord and admitting that we don’t know what to do or have the power to do it. Then, as we wait, we keep our eyes firmly on the Lord. As the news gets worse, we can believe with our whole hearts that God will not be mocked. Even as the ungodly proclaim their dominion over our nation (like saying Roe v. Wade will be the “law of the land”), God is working behind the scenes to come into the battle and ambush the enemy in an unexpected way. I don’t know how or when this will happen. And I hate that some of our own leaders are enemies of God, but I do know that He wins in the end, so I am keeping my eyes on Him.
It is hard for me to remember well, but I do recall when I first became a Christian, the enthusiasm and utter joy. I want that spark of new life all the time, but it has to be nourished in order to grow. If you don’t feed a fire, it goes out. I feed my fire of faith with God’s Word, with fellowship with other believers, with good Biblical teaching and with a strong and honest relationship with my husband. When I am not “feeling it” my husband encourages me not to lean on the feelings but to instead depend on the truth of the Gospel and the reality of God’s presence in my life. Looking up to God and looking outward to the needs of others helps me to focus on what is important and not just on myself and my own shortcomings. I have found that I grow when I am not expecting to but when I am just waiting on God to act. It is not in the fulfillment of His actions that I grow most; I grow most by just waiting expectantly, knowing that God is working for me and in me and helping me to be more like the person He created me to be.
I recall one of my grandsons had excruciating “growing pains.” Every night when he would retire, I would hear him cry out in pain and his mom would go to him and pray with him, applying heat or ice to his aching legs as the doctors had said to do. I didn’t know that growing pains were real until I saw them in action. Now I realize that sometimes I go through growing pains in my walk with the Lord; no heat or ice works, but prayer does and reading the Word and expressing my needs to other like-minded Christians. We are all walking this earth together until God calls us home. We are all growing together to be more like Christ. Our journey is made easier by helping each other along with encouragement, knowing that the person we may reach out today will probably be the person who reaches out to us tomorrow.
Those of us who have been Christians for many years have waited with anticipation for the return of Jesus. We look at the signs around us and compare them to Matthew 24, telling each other that His return to reign on the earth must be soon. But God has a plan and His plan is salvation for as many as possible.
So while we wait impatiently, demanding that God do something about the condition of the world and all the rampant sin, God is patiently waiting for more to repent so that they don’t face eternal destruction. I’m thankful that God is patient, aren’t you? He patiently waited for me and there are others He is calling to, others who need to come and confess and repent. God is a God of justice, but He is also One of love and He wants the best for all of us, not just a few. Although waiting is hard sometimes, it will be worth it when we see God and all the souls He has saved worshipping Him around His throne. While we wait, our task is to tell others about His love, sharing our testimony and the difference He has made in our lives. Each one tell others…until He returns triumphantly to take us home.
God truly desires to show us His love and compassion, but He is waiting patiently for us to come to Him and admit that we have a need. Knowing that God is a faithful God, once we take our needs before Him, then we must wait. But we know for absolutely certain that God’s help is on the way. It may not be what we expected but it will always be just what we needed just when we needed it.
Have a blessed day, and if you are waiting for an answer to prayer, take time to thank God for the answer that He is sending.
www.bible.com/reading-plans/26293/day/8
www.bible.com/reading-plans/11667/day/21
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 