Sittin', Waitin', Wishin' (Part 2)

Read Part 1 here.

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul,
'therefore I will hope in him.'
The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him." (Lamentations 3:22-25 ESV)

Most of my associations with waiting are negative: waiting lines, waiting rooms, waiting lists, waiting on hold...all passive, all boring, even frustrating. I've wondered, is waiting on God like waiting in line? Thankfully, the answer to that question is NO! A few weeks ago, I was exploring Bible passages that have to do with waiting and I came across I Corinthians 1:4-9:
[4] I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, [5] that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— [6] even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— [7] so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, [8] who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV, emphasis mine)
Paul is thanking God for the way He sustained the Corinthian church while they waited for Jesus to return. The kind of wait that Paul describes includes the following:
  • being enriched in Jesus Christ in every way, including speech and knowledge (vs 5)
  • the testimony about Christ being confirmed among them (vs 6)
  • no lack of any spiritual gift (vs 7)
  • sustenance from Jesus Christ to the end (vs 8)
  • the experience God's faithfulness through a clean conscience and fellowship with Him (vs 8-9)
What if my wait for [insert whatever dream is in your heart] looked like the church's wait for the return of Christ? What if it involved being enriched in Jesus Christ in every way? What if my submission to him confirmed my testimony about Christ to others? What if every day along the way, I enjoyed an assortment of spiritual gifts, sustenance from Jesus himself, and a clean conscience before God? That doesn't sound passive, boring, or frustrating. What I'm learning is that waiting on God is not sitting still; it's living with an expectation. In our case, as believers, we are living with the expectation of massive, daily good and future pleasures that far outweigh our present struggles.

Going green!

Lynn

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Sittin,' Waitin,' Wishin' (Part 1)

Sitting cross-legged on the tile floor, I had my my eye on a group of little boys who kept peeling off their name tags and sticking them in each others hair, only half-listening to the lesson. I looked up, however, when I heard our children's minister say, "Quiet down, everyone, I want you to hear what Lainey just said. Lainey, tell everyone what you just told me." We were learning about Abraham and the promise he received that he would one day be the father of many nations, a promise God made 25 years before Abraham's wife gave birth to their first son. Lainey, a quiet and thoughtful six year-old, waited for the class to pipe down and then repeated her comment for everyone to hear, "God could have given Abraham a son right away, but God waited because he wanted to see if Abraham would trust him."

Does it seem like you are always waiting on something? Waiting for summer break. Waiting for a family. Waiting for a door to open, a promise to be fulfilled. For me, it is tempting to doubt God during a long wait. I wonder why, when he can do anything, he does not make promised blessings materialize immediately. Lainey's wise and simple words reminded me that a long wait is intended to reveal something about my heart. Do I trust Him? "'Wait' isn't a fashionable word," Terry Virgo has said recently. "How we handle delay seriously shapes who we become."

Throughout salvation history, God's people have waited. A lot. In the writings of Old Testament prophets, we read expressions of a fervent hope for future good. But not only that, these writers express an expectation for God to help now. He is not only in our future, he is our very present help. Isaiah prays, "O Lord...we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble" (33:2 ESV). Even as we wait for God to work out his will, he will be our arm, our strength, every day. Isaiah also says, "but they who wait for 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" (40:31 ESV). Even as we wait for something, there is current, accessible provision. Notice how active the wait-ers are in the passage above? They are soaring, running, walking, growing in strength. Not twiddling their thumbs. Not growing disgruntled or depressed. Not losing the sparkle in their eyes or the bounce in their step.

Isaiah was waiting for the coming of Jesus and now, as His church, we wait for the second coming of Jesus. For part two of this post (coming a little later this week), we'll look at how the church is instructed to wait for the return of our King and what we can learn about the kind of fruitful, satisfying, and active wait that is possible for those who hope in God. I'm praying you will be refreshed and encouraged to find out what God intends for you to experience as you put your hope in him during whatever season of waiting you find yourself. Be sure to check back later this week!

Going green!

Lynn

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Building Bridges #4

Building Bridges #4 from Anna Miles on Vimeo.

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Building Bridges #3

Jenny Goin Green from Anna Miles on Vimeo.

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#3 Postponed

Hey girls!

Sorry to do this, but because of scheduling conflicts Building Bridges #3 will be out later this afternoon/evening. Jenny McCutchan is up next! Stay tuned she is an awesome girl, and you don't want to miss her story!

Going Green,
Anna

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