Some of my dear friends have been urging me to write for quite some time...but I have been reluctant to. From time to time I feel like there are things I should share, but mostly I like to share those things in conversation...one of the few favorites I have in the world. So, for those of you who have waited....
I don't have many favorites. Period. Those of you who know me best know this. You could ask me, and many have, what my favorite food is and I would respond, "Oh, I don't really have favorites"...you could inquire about my favorite music, and I would respond, "Oh, I don't really have a favorite genre"....and you could even solicit what my favorite thing to do is, and again, I would respond, "Oh, I don't really have a favorite thing I like to do"...
I like the amount of variety there is in the world far too much to settle down onto one solid thing which can be called my favorite. I enjoy a range of selection...an array of variety....I love assortment and choices...I don't think God is a God of "favorites" either ... He certainly loves diversity (created the world and the many different people) and he loves variety (think of the fall leaves)...
Two favorites I do claim however are conversation and coffee - because they're holy. These two things have been a huge part of what have shaped me...I firmly associate God's presence with them. They are my favorites...my heart is after them...
God's heart certainly is after His people. His desire is to dwell with and in His creation. His heart especially went out to a certain fellow, one who was after His own heart! Although I don't claim David as my favorite Biblical hero...he was a chosen man of God...and it is David's writings that have given me hope over the past few months....
David, the one who: was annointed King of Israel as a little boy, who killed a lion and a bear, who defeated the Philistines, who was betrayed by Saul, and who killed Goliath...
This is who writes to us in the 21st Centruy:
...I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
- Psalm 27:13-14
I can think of all the things I wait on...tables, appointments, coffee in the morning, that long needed conversation, car problems to be fixed, the computer to boot up, the first snow fall, growing up to be an "adult", a paper cut to heal, specific details to be ironed out, fall leaves, security, red stop lights, restoration (this takes time)! Waiting is a part of life....perhaps this is why David reminds us that STRENGTH will rise as we wait upon the Lord.
I take heart because these two verses say:
- I am still confident of this: David certainly had previous experience in the past (*time*) with seeing the goodness of the LORD. He said he is 'STILL confident'. The word "still" is language which insinuates an ongoing and continual process!
In what ways are you STILL seeing the goodness of the Lord?
- I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living: This particularly makes me think David was looking to the future...."I WILL (future language) see the goodness of the LORD". David had seen (past *time*) the goodness of the Lord and is confident that he 'will' see the goodness of the Lord in the future. Are you looking for the goodness of the Lord to be a part of your future?
- Wait for the LORD - Then David says this!! I asked myself...even after writing the list of things we wait (*time*) for...do I WAIT on the Lord? If you notice...I didn't have that in my list if things I wait on....yet the one who was Chosen by God, who killed a giant, who was a shephard....waited for the LORD. In what ways are you waiting for the LORD?
- Be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD- David is encouraging His readers (and us!) to be strong....build strength! Waiting on the LORD is valuable...yet, waiting isn't easy....it tests our patience (which is evidence that the spirit of God dwells in us)...it takes courage and strength, even discipline ... and David believed that waiting on the Lord was worth it...for he saw and would see the goodness of the Lord...so he offered hope and encrouagement!! How are you being strong and taking heart while waiting on the LORD?
God has blessed me with a song...(if you click on THIS LINK you can go directly to Brenton Brown's site and hear it)- I hardly go a day without singing it...I wake up singing it, I sing it in the shower, I sing it when I'm driving, when I'm working....when I'm thinking of Niger and all those who are yet to know Jesus...
This is a Muslim family we met while in Niger...they are waiting (even though they don't know it) to hear the Truth about Jesus ...pray for them as they wait...
Yet our God is everlasting...he reigns forever...even He is waiting to be in relationship with those who do not yet know His goodness...Our God is a patient and waiting God...
I want to be one who "Waits Well"....I want to be diligent yet patient, hopeful yet fully present, waiting yet un-deteredly active... We are in fact, WAITING for the time in which we can feast at the Table with our everlasting, ever reigning, without beginning or ending, waiting God...
Be blessed as you wait...
Strength Will Rise As We Wait Upon The Lord!!
