Withered Wineskins

Have you been waiting for what seems like forever to see the fulfillment of a dream, answer to a prayer, or intervention of some kind in your life? I imagine all of us are in this position from time to time, finding it harder and harder to wait, even wanting to give up on whatever it is we hope for entirely. If you find yourself there today, you aren't alone 'waiting for your rescue'. The one thing we must do is put our hope in God's promises. What he says is true - trustworthy, firmly grounded, and never failing. In the 'wait', it may not seem that way, but God will never compromise his watchfulness or his careful attention toward us!

I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word. My eyes are straining to see your promises come true. When will you comfort me? I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, but I have not forgotten to obey your decrees. (Psalm 119:81-83)

Waiting makes us feel like withered up wineskins, doesn't it? It invades the spaces within our minds where it has a chance to affect the way we think. It weasels its way into our emotions, giving us every high and low we could imagine possible. It brings havoc to our bodies, causing us to lose sleep, tossing and turning while ruminating over whatever it is that we 'wait' for to happen. In the end, the one thing that is accomplished by all that is a 'withered up wineskin' kind of feeling!

What is the key to waiting? It is obedience. Like it or not, the key to waiting is to do what we know to be right, in the ways God tells us to do them. Period! Most of the time, we start out this 'waiting process' well, then somewhere down the line, we don't do as well with that obedience stuff. We think it isn't 'doing any good', so we waver a bit, allowing compromise to enter in. Truth be told, the waiting is made even more difficult to endure whenever we allow compromise to move us off the 'obedience track'. 

God isn't impressed by our obedience, but we will be less likely to find ourselves in a position where God will have to bring correction into our lives in order for us to handle whatever it is we have been waiting upon. We must remain consistent in our walk, spending quality time with Jesus each and every day, following through on each step of action he requires of us in his Word. Waiting will happen, but we don't have to end up like old, withered wineskins at the end! Just sayin! 

Bigger things are found in the waiting

How much longer, Lord, will you forget about me? Will it be forever? How long will you hide? How long must I be confused and miserable all day? How long will my enemies keep beating me down? (Psalm 13:1-2)

If you have ever asked, "Are we there yet?", you know the question is not one of patience, but of impatience. We want all the good stuff, but we don't like the time between the vision and its fulfillment. The vision is easy for us to comprehend, but all the stuff that happens between the vision and the fulness of its completion is much harder for us to understand. We want to 'be there', but God has some work to do in us, around us, or through us before we 'get there'.

In those 'in between' times while we await the fulfillment of the vision, it is not uncommon for us to begin to question if we got the vision right. In other words, we begin to question God's purpose in the wait. We think he has withdrawn from us, is hiding himself from us, or that he isn't concerned that others are 'beating us down' by constantly telling us the vision probably wasn't from God. The more we begin to doubt, questioning his authority and timing, the more we will move from hope into despair.

God won't forget about us. His delay will not be forever. He isn't in hiding. We might be a little confused, but if we ask for wisdom, God is sure to give it. Our misery is of concern to him because it indicates we aren't really trusting him with the 'timing' and maybe not even for the 'outcome'. While we wait, he is at work. Do we always see his hand working in our lives? No, most of the time we do not. We can look back and see the ways he orchestrated things, but we really don't see them all that clearly while we are in the midst of them.

Does God get put off when we ask him 'how much longer'? I don't think he does, but don't be surprised if he begins to teach another lesson along the way. I have discovered that the time between the vision and its fulfillment can be some of the greatest time God has to get me focused, listening intently, and seeing things clearer, but I have to allow him to use that time. How about you? Are you willing to allow God to use that 'waiting time' to accomplish big things in you? Just askin!

But why?

Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. (I Samuel 1:2, 6)

Hannah was one of two wives taken by Elkanah. She was barren, while Peninnah was not. Yet, her husband loved her deeply - in spite of the fact she could not bear him any children. Hannah lived in anguish because she was barren - for it was the supreme act of a woman to bear her husband children in those days. To be barren meant she was not fulfilling her entire 'duty' as a wife - although she may have been loved very deeply by Elkanah, she felt 'less than' when she considered how the other woman could bring forth Elkanah's progeny. I wonder how many times we consider ourselves 'less than' just because we look at others as the 'standard' by which we measure ourselves and not God's view of us as 'immensely loved and cherished'?

It is easy for others to look upon our lives and criticize what they see on the surface, isn't it? The more we allow their 'impression' of what is on the surface to determine what we become on the inside, the more we will be down on ourselves. God is the only judge of our character that is trustworthy. He is the only one who really knows the intent and desire of our heart. He alone is the one who proclaims our worth or value. So, why do we put so much thought into what others think of us, how we measure up to their standards, or how well they speak of us? Maybe it is a bit of pride - for we all want to be thought well of, don't we? It could be a bit of envy because we might want what others have, not even knowing the 'price' they may have paid to have whatever it is they have.

There is something within this passage I want us to see: "...the Lord had kept her from having children." Why would God keep her from having the desire of her heart? As we read on in the account, we see how much anguish this caused her - not only because she was taunted by Peninnah, but because she so yearned to be a mother. The story goes on to reveal that year after year, feast time after feast time, she'd come to the Temple of God and pray for a child, until one year God heard her plea. That very night, she was with child. We may not understand God's delay in answering our prayers, but we can count on the fact he never turns a deaf ear to our prayers. Samuel would come of this union - of this extreme 'delay' in God's plan. Could it be that God was preparing Hannah's heart to be ready to bear Samuel and at the same time be ready to dedicate him to the service of God?

Hannah remained faithful through all those years to love her husband, follow her God, and be the woman called her to become. She never took her eyes off of God's standard, even when others tried to impose theirs on her. The more we use a standard other than God's to view our circumstances, the more we move into feelings of despair and a lack of worth. Whatever standard we are using other than God's is 'flawed' and will bring us more anguish than we might ever realize. Keeping our eyes on God's standard might mean we experience a delay in 'accomplishing' what we desire, but it is his perfect timing that makes all things perfect! It can be the hardest thing to wait on God's timing, but as long as we remain faithful to what he shows us to do, we are in the right place for his blessing to come. Just sayin!

Not ignored

Long enough, God—you’ve ignored me long enough. I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me. Take a good look at me, God, my God; I want to look life in the eye, so no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face. I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—I’m celebrating your rescue. I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers. (Psalm 13)

Most of us have some capacity for endurance, whether it be with the distance we walk, the amount of waiting we can tolerate, or the pain we are willing to experience before we resort to a means of relief. "Long enough" is not a measure which is the same for each of us, but rather is a unique measure based on where we are emotionally, physically, spiritually, and even "relationally". Sometimes our "long enough" is shortened because of emotions being on edge - too much coming at us at one time and stress building up within. At other times, the same things could roll off our back without an issue, just because we were more "in balance" with our emotional stressors. There is nothing more disheartening, though, than to come to the place of "long enough" when you are waiting on God to answer some need in your life. In those times of "long enough", we want immediate relief, so any amount of waiting seems like an eternity and carries with it a huge "weight" of pressure.

One of the first places our minds go when we are at this place is that God is somehow ignoring us. Somehow we equate waiting, or even what we think is the slightest delay in relief, as his "ignoring us". The furthest thing is the case, though, for it is totally inconsistent with God's character to "ignore" his children. He cannot "ignore" issues we create, nor those we face because others have created them for us. He can be silent for a period, and this is probably where we get the impression he is "ignoring us". Silence is not ignorance - it is simply God waiting to speak! How do you know if you have reached your "end" point? There is not a cut and dry answer to this question. There are "hints" we might be at that point, though. One such hint is the tendency to "feel" like we are "talking to the hand" when it comes to our times of conversation with God. If you are not familiar with that saying it means we think God has erected some barrier to our being heard - we are talking to his hand - totally missing his ear and definitely not affecting his heart! Again, this is the furthest thing from his character, because God's intensity of love for his creation could never allow him to turn a deaf ear or be unmoved in his heart by their need.

Another hint of reaching our "end" is the tendency to have "frazzled" emotions. When we are at the end of our rope, emotions are kind of like live wires. We just don't know what will set us off the next time, and we cannot seem to move beyond those raw emotions. Emotions are definitely "real" and cannot be denied. We may find ourselves at our "end" point with emotions ranging from rage to depression, fear to apathy, or even sorrow to the depths of unyielding grief. The further we go "into" our emotions, the worse the "long enough" appears to us. There is a sensitivity to our situation which almost gets "blown out of proportion" simply because of the magnitude of our emotions. This doesn't mean the circumstances aren't real, important, or specific to us. It just means we may be unable to move out of them because our emotions are too frazzled to "deal" with them any longer.

Perhaps one of the most "telling" hints we have come to this place is feeling like the circumstances will never change - this is the way it is always going to be. Some might call this losing hope. All expectation is gone - there is no reasonable solution to the issues at hand, so we interpret this as being "hopeless". This may be the easiest place to begin to bring change into the circumstances, though. For every moment of "hopelessness" is a moment whereby we can begin to change our focus. A lack of hope is oftentimes based on our focus - focus on the issue(s) long enough and they become insurmountable (a mountain in our path incapable of being scaled). Focus on the next step in front of us one by one and the mountain becomes nothing more than a path we travel to get to the other side!

Regardless of why we might be at our "end" point today, we have the opportunity to express ourselves to the one who actually cares about our moments. God is not put off by our admittance of this feeling it has been "long enough" for us to be dealing with whatever it is. In fact, he is probably just waiting for us to bring him our "long enough" and let him become our "more than enough". Just sayin!

Regrets anyone?

God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life. (Psalm 62:1-2)

I saw a quote by "Missional Women" that read: "It is better to wait on God than to have regrets." It hit me that we all deal with regrets and if this 'waiting on God' part of our lives were just a bit better, we might not have quite so many. As King David proposed, if we wait as long as God says, the outcome may just be a little more certain. Why? The ground we stand upon is solid - the place where we take refuge while we wait gives us the needed time to breathe in and breathe out. We are to go to God, waiting upon him as long as HE says, not trudging ahead because WE say it is time to move.

I speak for myself here - waiting is tough business. My mind gets me in muddle and the muddle just gets worse as I imagine all "I" could be doing if "I" just moved ahead. Did you catch all those "I's" in that sentence? Most of the trouble I find myself in is my own doing because I didn't take time to wait AS LONG AS HE SAYS. Yes, I emphasized that for a reason because I believe we ALL need to hear that one. AS LONG - this is more than likely hard for us because of that one day with God is as a thousand years with us thing (2 Peter 3:8). His timing is not slow - our expectations are too quick.

Regrets are things we feel sorrow or remorse for - missed opportunities, actions that lead to negative outcomes, disappointment over expectations not met as we hoped. When we regret something, we are actually looking upon it with a strong emotional sense of loss. As much as there may be emotions attached to taking action, there can be even more intense emotions when realize the loss associated with taking actions too quickly. If we never stop long enough, taking time to actually sit and listen to what God says, we are likely to always be taking steps we find end in some form of the emotional upheaval we call regrets. Just sayin!

Link to Missional Women: Missional Women | Facebook

A tale of the fisherwoman

It seems a little 'counter' to patience to be passionate, doesn't it? When we think of patience, we probably think about the one who simply stands by waiting to see what will unfold, not losing hope, but being very, very calm, cool, and collected. I imagine being passionate as being a little more animated and less 'calm' - there is action involved in passion, so it doesn't always make me think of patience. Most of the time, we don't really equate waiting and passion as belonging together, but let me be a little bit revealing here - passion and patience make all the waiting worthwhile! I love to fish and let me just tell you that you cannot be any good at this without passion and patience! You must sit still for long times, often rethinking what you are using to attract those fish to your hook, and then know just the right time to snag that catch when they are nibbling on your bait. It is a skill learned in the waiting! Much of what we learn in life is learned in the waiting - but never forget that passion is part of waiting.

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

To be very truthful here, the very first definition of patience in my dictionary has nothing to do with waiting. In fact, it has to do with bearing up under annoyance, persecution, misfortune, pain - all without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or emotional outburst! Hmmm...well, when I think about it, catching that fish means I occasionally get a little annoyed when they repeatedly steal my worms, feeling a little like they are laughing at me when they scurry away from my contented by their latest feast! While I try to remain calm, there are just times when I get a little 'outburst' of disgust with those clever ones that avoid the hook repeatedly! It is the next definition of patience that most of us associate the 'feeling' or 'action' of patience with - that of a willingness to suppress our endless restlessness when there is a delay in our gratification. If we go so far as to examine the very first "synonym" of patience, we will find the word "stability" as a descriptor of patience! Stability? Yup, because in the waiting, we are to never veer from our foundation of trust and hope.

Our patience (stability, lack of restlessness, diligence) needs to be passionate! What is being described is an intensity that surpasses the normal patience we exhibit in daily dealings. When the need arises for our persistence, we are intent on persisting. Fervent, enthusiastic, consistent submission to the alert discipline, spiritual understanding, and good character that God is building in our lives. Things in life will come our way that will require us to make the right amount of emotional investment - neither too much, nor too little. This describes the type of life that is in balance - emotionally, spiritually, and physically. There is an intensity, but it is not marked with restlessness or overtures of impatience. We have observed people going through things that we could label as "intense" in their lives, each one of them taking hold of that "intensity" in a different way. Some dig in deeper, almost looking for cover in whatever they find might distract them away from that severe intensity, if even for just a few moments. I like to use humor to release a little bit of that tension that mounts in those times - if even for just a few minutes - as it releases many 'good hormones' that help me make it through the tough moments.  Others might find themselves turning tail and running, attempting to escape the intensity because it is too unpleasant, requires too much investment, or presents uncomfortable options for them.

The kind of response to intensity that does not move quickly into that immediate complaint about the circumstance, does not easily become irritated with the amount of investment being required (emotionally, physically, spiritually) - this is what God is looking for in each of us. In fact, there is to be a response from within us that shows that the desire for immediate gratification is no longer the motivating influence in our lives. For many of us, we have a long way to go on this one. Honest evaluation of our lives would confirm that we struggle with submission when the issues are intense, the pressures are mounting and the promise of any kind of gratification is waning! How do we get to this point of passionate patience? Remembering what our passage has already revealed to us, it is through allowing the Holy Spirit to work into the very fibers of our being the stability that needs to be there. Today will present us with one or more opportunities to choose wisely - when we do (we call that obedience), a new fiber is woven into us. The more we make those good choices, the more the fibers of obedience are interwoven, until we have a strong cord that bears up under pressure. It is not instantaneous! In fact, it takes time. Add to that 'patience' and you get the picture!

God is after a work of art, not just a quickly sketched design in each of us. His goal is that we will allow the moments of 'required waiting' to become a thing we are comfortable with - allowing him to create within us a solid and secure foundation.  At first, we feel like it is a clumsy, slow, and arduous process to learn to wait, much less have any passion in it. After some time, the passion and the waiting becomes easier - in other words, we don't resist the work of the Holy Spirit in directing our choices any longer. We enjoy the touch of the Holy Spirit's hand, gently directing us, keeping us steady, allowing just enough tension in our lives to "weave together" that which produces the beauty of his holiness within. Passionate patience - it is the work of the truly "Skilled Artisan" in our lives. Just sayin!

Passion is part of waiting

God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.  They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!  I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.  It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.  It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.  When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.  Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions.  Wait for hope to appear.  Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.  Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return.  If he works severely, he also works tenderly.  His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.  He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way.  (Lamentations 3:22-33 MSG)

The merciful love of God - his loyal love - new every morning! Beyond the mundane of my today is the awesomeness of God's love! Our writer is feeling pretty beat up by life - he is in a low place. If you took the time to read the couple of chapters just before this, you'd see that he has been through some pretty ugly stuff and his walls seem to be coming in around him. Life has been a challenge and he is barely keeping up! Yet, in the midst of it all, he has made a determination of heart that keeps him steady. That determination? He is sticking with God no matter what comes! In the midst of the toughest stuff we face in life it is not uncommon to feel like all we have left is God and nothing else. The writer goes on to say, "God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks." What a hope for each of us when God becomes ALL we have left! Most of the time we think of 'all we have left' as the dregs of life, but when our ALL if God, there are no dregs coming our way!

Please indulge me just a moment here while I explore the meaning of "passionately" and "waits" with you today. I don't know about you, but I don't really connect waiting with being passionate! In fact, I find the two ideas just a little bit at the opposite ends of the pole.  If I am passionate about something, I usually am pretty much driven by that passion - it energizes me, pulling me forward, and I am "active" in some respect in that passion. Waiting implies that I am not moving forward, perhaps not even very energized about the whole thing - I am standing still - or so some may think. So, why does this writer connect the two? Let's look.

Passionately carries the idea of being affected by something so deeply that there is an expression of intensity within - kind of like an enthusiasm that moves you forward. It also has a way of revealing us as capable of being acted upon by some external agent or force - not dead to what once moved us deeply and that 'force' is free to move us deeply once again. To be moved in such a way that you exude fervor or zeal - intense emotion that compels you to act and not be immobile - this is passion. Most of my 'waiting' doesn't actually seem to come with this type of intensity, though. The idea that comes to mind when I think of passion is something like a current - maybe it is hidden below the surface, but it has an intensity that carves out the course of the river and keeps the waters fresh and new each and every day! Waiting implies that we are staying in one place, but it doesn't have to mean we are getting stagnant! We stay in place in expectation of something, with a readiness to receive or respond. Now, do you see why the writer connects the two?

Think of it this way - we are having our passions ignited by a holy and passionate God in order to be ready to respond to the moves he makes within our life! Even in the waiting, there needs to be the compelling of our heart to earnestly seek with a passion that comes from deep within. To this end, the writer adds that we need to be diligent seekers. Steady, earnest, and energetic in our pursuit of God's best in our lives - not the mediocre, but the best. Someone who seeks is one who makes every attempt to discover, to ask for or request in such a way that nothing else will satisfy until what is hidden is discovered completely. That is the absolute culmination of passionate waiting! As we realize there is actually a passion in our waiting, we might embrace our waiting just a little bit differently. Just sayin!

Fishing

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 

(Romans 12:12 NLT) 

Have you ever spent any amount of time fishing? You buy just the right rod and reel, secure the amount of tackle you believe you will need to land that huge haul of wiggly swimmers, and head off to the huge lake or pond to drop that line in the water. Then you wait. Then you wait even longer. Still you wait even more. After about two hours of this, I have had it! I am not very good at this "angling" thing! Yet, I find the day totally relaxing and awesomely invigorating, even though I have given up on the original intent of the day - fishing. Why? Maybe because it is spent with people I love, watching them do something they love. Or perhaps it is that I enjoy being in nature and observing the handiwork of God - remembering he created all this magnificence for none other than each one of us. Better yet - perhaps it is because of both of these reasons! 

Sometimes we aren't in the best of places while we are living life day-to-day. We find ourselves tied up in knots and our confident hope in God wanes a little bit because we find the troubles we face looming big in our immediate sight. I think waiting is the hardest thing to do, especially when things haven't gone as expected or desired. Babies are born with heart defects or epileptic seizures, requiring endless hours of care and dare I say worry about their every need. Homes are set into chaotic disarray when one takes ill. Families are torn apart by decisions made in haste. It isn't that life isn't easy - it is that life gets complicated and there is a degree of "unrest" that occurs for each of us. When all is at "unrest" in our lives, it is the best time to come to a place of quiet repose and just "be still" in God's presence.

Many of you have followed my blog long enough to know how much I love to vacation with my BFF. She thrills my heart with her laughter, gets me recharged with her beautiful smiles and warm hugs, and challenges me to soar to new heights - all probably without even realizing she is doing it! This vacation isn't cram packed with visits to this amusement park, or that tourist spot. In fact, it is spent enjoying the hiking trails and sitting on the shorelines in quiet repose, just recharging our batteries, so to speak. There are many in need all around us - cancer ravaging bodies of those we love; jobs being lost by those we respect and care about; and family dynamics challenging even the best of us. One thing I have learned - we rest and God does the rest! We pray and he does the work of sorting out those prayers, making sense of all that has us tied up knots. We ask and he does the work of helping us find the right answers. We seek and he reveals that which will perfectly meet our need.

May I challenge each of you to take time to recharge your batteries once in a while - you probably don't do it often enough anyway! It is the best time to just remember the God you serve and the blessings you have been given in life. The challenges will sort themselves out when we learn to rest in him a little bit more. Just sayin!

It is ALL a waiting game

Joyce Meyers speaks of patience as the "behavior" we exhibit while waiting: "Patience is not simply the ability to wait, it's how we behave while we are waiting." Many of us feel waiting involves us just doing nothing - being kind of "stagnant" for a period of time until whatever it is we are waiting for happens. It is really quite different, though, for waiting involves movement, just not ahead of schedule or in a direction of our own making. According to Webster, patience means we bear pains and trials calmly and without complaint, but it also means we don't act hastily or rashly. If you think about that one for a moment, you will begin to realize "bearing" suggests action - we don't act when we sometimes think we might have a "solution" to the problem at hand, but trust in the one who will bring the right solution in the right time. It means we remain steadfast - not easily swayed or affected by the circumstances.

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! (2 Corinthians 4:17 NLT)

In the scheme of things, our present troubles are pretty small in comparison to the vastness of this universe that God holds together by the simple command of his voice. We seldom realize that in the midst of trouble, for our focus is easily directed to the impact of the trouble upon our lives rather than keeping our focus on the one who holds all things together, orchestrating all things for our good. As Meyers suggested, how we "behave" in the midst of trial or trouble is an important factor to be considered. We aren't just idle - we are trusting (an action); focused (an action); hopeful (an action); and obedient (the toughest action of all).

To be "immovable" doesn't just mean we are "steadfast", it means we know where it is we have our footing and that helps when it comes to our first action - trusting. Our ability to stand firm is really subject to what or who it is we are trusting in when the troubles seem to want to dissuade us from that peaceful trust God wants us to have when our trust is placed in him. If we are trusting in our own ability to "figure out a solution", we might just find ourselves "rationalizing" a whole lot and placing our trust in what it is we can "put together". While I honestly believe there is a place for us to act upon what we know is consistent with good judgment - such as getting our resume out to employers when we are seeking a new job - it isn't up to us to "figure it all out" on our own. God does expect us to act upon what is good judgment - but he also wants us to be certain we aren't just depending upon our own efforts, but are reliant upon the wisdom he gives, listening intently to the things he tells us - this is where obedience plays an important factor in the mix of things.

The "behavior" we exhibit in the waiting times often reveals much about where our trust is placed, how obedient we really are to the things God reveals to us, and where it is we are focused. Focus on the issues at hand and you will be overcome with doubt, worry, and all manner of anxiety-ridden side-effects of the issues. Focus on Christ and you will begin to sense peaceful anticipation even in the midst of what looks like "hopeless" circumstances in the eyes of those who don't have that same focus. There is a plethora of counsel offered in the midst of trouble - from all kinds of sources. Not all of this counsel will be able to see things through the eyes of Christ, though. Listen to those who won't encourage you to lose focus, act rashly, or intentionally place trust in anything other than Jesus. These are the wise counselors God places in your life for such times as these when you are tempted to lose focus, drift into doubt, or get ahead of the plans God has. These counselors will advise you to stay grounded, act upon what you know to be good judgment, and then wait committed to the trust that God has already prepared the outcome. Behave as a wise and trusting child of God and see the tremendous things he will do on your behalf! Just sayin!

Another season of waiting - ugh!

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. (Psalm 62:5-7 NLT)

Have you ever had to wait for something or someone, but wherever you were waiting you had to be very, very quiet? I have agreed to meet someone in a particular location, such as a section of the library for a study group, and in that time of waiting, I have had to be very, very quiet. Is it a comfortable thing to allow silence to be the pervasive thing? Not really. Most of us are not created well for silence - we kind of thrive on movement and input of some type - then we give movement and output of some sort in turn. When God asks us to just be silent and wait, how comfortable are we with doing just as he asks? Most of us interpret "no movement" on our part, and perhaps "no response" on our part, as us just not "doing anything" to help ourselves out of whatever it is we are "waiting" to receive or know. Maybe that is where we go wrong - thinking we have to make wrongs right, or get things done ourselves!

Don't miss what our writer says - waiting "quietly before God" isn't a place or posture of inactivity. In waiting, we hope. Hope is action - it is us placing our faith (trust) in another - God. Anticipation is built in the wait - not because we get everything instantly! Remember that toy many of us had as kids - the jack-in-the box with the crank on the side of it that when turned played that sing-son tune that kept us waiting and wondering when we'd see that colorful clown pop from within the box? Waiting is anticipation - we build our trust in the waiting. We didn't yank the lid off the box in order to see the little clown inside - we did what we were supposed to do - we turned the crank over and over again until suddenly and almost unexpectedly he popped from his place of hiding within the box! While God may not ask us to "turn the crank over and over again", he may remind us to just sit in silent anticipation of what he is about to do on our behalf. 

When we hope, we place our trust in something (or someone) outside of ourselves. I think this may be the purpose of waiting as God designed it. For in the wait, he gets us still enough to pour great things into us. In turn, we begin to shift our focus from what we can do to "fix our fix" toward how he will "suddenly and without much notice" be there to do it much better than we ever could have! All other "trust" is not based upon what our writer refers to as a rock solid foundation. To trust might just require us to get quiet enough to evaluate where it is we have been anticipating our answer to come from - us, another, or God himself. Perhaps the moment we shift our anticipation to a more "rock solid foundation" we begin to feel a shifting of our reliance upon self or others to be our "fix". Maybe, just maybe, this is what God has designed this season of waiting for in our lives. Just sayin!

Please just answer the door!

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8 NLT)

God doesn't string us along in our lives - although we might have formed that perception when we don't get immediate or instantaneous answers to our prayers. Somehow we interpret God's "not right now" as "we will just have to wait and see". Parents are good at using that last one, simply because they want to encourage some type of behavior from their child, or they really need to see if they will have the funds later to be able to do whatever the child is wanting. God doesn't manipulate us into "right behavior", and he certainly has all the resources he needs right at his fingertips, so he probably doesn't use the "we will just have to wait and see" response to our prayers! His "not right now" can seem like an eternity because we hope for answers right now. Going from one job interview to the next, moving higher and higher up the "hiring ladder" with the company seems a little nerve-racking more because of the "not quite yet" you realize when you leave that "next level" of interview. It isn't that they are saying "no", nor are they saying "yes" - they are just saying their is a time and a method to their plan. God has a time and a method to all his plans.

Ask, seek, and knock - three very specific actions. I think God might just have another in the mix - rest. When we have asked all we can ask, sought with all the focus we can direct toward the seeking, and made our need undeniably evident by all our knocking, it may just be time to rest. Rest in the peace he gives - for even in the waiting, we can know rest. God doesn't forget our need, nor does he turn his attention away from our lives. He remains ever-vigilant to prepare the moment when his answer shall be revealed. It isn't always a quick wait - but when we wait in peace we often begin to see his purpose in the waiting a little better. The wait isn't to punish us - it is to refine us. It is to help us see his provision, to appreciate his presence, and to trust his power in our lives.

Ask specifically - God doesn't need lofty prayers, but in being specific in our prayers, we often get to the place of understanding what we are asking. We need the specificity even more than he does! It isn't that we are telling him "how" it is to be done, but we let him know the need and then trust him with the details.

Seek with tenacity - God isn't "making us work for" the answer, but he may look for us to put a little bit of ourselves on the line in the process. I often told my kids I could see they were committed to something by their focused attention toward it - I knew what they wanted was important to them because they were putting forth some effort on their part to obtain it. While God doesn't need us to "make things happen" in our lives, he does count on us revealing a determined focus and a seeking heart.

Knock unceasingly - God isn't deaf, so why must we knock? I think it is the connection we are making that he is after. When we knock, we rap upon the door and then what do we do? We wait. We listen. We are trying to perceive what may behind the door we are rapping upon, right? God might just be helping us to refine our perception of his movement a little when he tells us to knock. Not in that we beat the door down, but in that we listen and begin to perceive!

We aren't idle in our prayers, nor are we "performing to obtain", but we build trust, learn to rest, and develop our perception of his movements just a little clearer when we pray as God tells us to pray. Just sayin!

Don't place me on hold again!

Okay, going to meddle a little bit today - just warning you! How many of us are "quiet waiters"?  There are a few of us who will answer that one positively, but many of us will admit to being anything less than quiet.  In fact, we have been known to complain because the wait is too long; or give up to do something totally different just because we weren't about to wait for however long was "too long".  Admit it - - - you might just be one of those "not so quiet waiters" in life!  Now, what does that have to do with how we deal with life?  It is what we do with those "wait times" which often make the biggest difference in our lives - we just may not realize it at the time!

My soul quietly waits for the True God alone; my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my deliverance, my citadel high on the hill; I will not be shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2 VOICE)

You realize that nothing is beyond God's ability to do, right? That means every time there is a waiting period of any sort, there is something to be learned or appreciated in the wait. Think for a moment about the process of a life entering into this world.  At the moment of conception, God could have made it so that baby magically appeared 3 weeks later, but instead, he created life to come forth 40 weeks after conception.  What happens in the time between conception and that infant's delivery into this world is amazing, and really, not to be replicated by any human hand.  As a baby develops, the processes which will help to support life outside the womb are developing, as well.  A baby born too soon will face many a struggle to survive.  In fact, if the baby is born before the mid-point of development, we say it is "non-viable" (it doesn't have what it takes to survive).

If an infant comes into this world after the 20 week mark, a great deal of effort will have to be put into having that infant survive outside of the womb.  It has developed to the point it "might" survive with all the right care and intense treatments from medical personnel dedicated to creating an environment where it can continue to develop, but nothing compares to the womb.  The parents go through extreme agony watching, waiting, and often wondering about their baby's chances to survive.  The doctors and nurses work furiously to give the tiny infant a "fighting chance".  The siblings may go months without ever meeting their new brother or sister - because exposure to their germs may be too great a risk for the premature infant.  Even the time between delivery and the day they finally take the baby home is a period of waiting.

Why does God create so many things in our lives through the process of waiting?  I think it might be something we observe in the process of a baby being brought into this world.  In the time between conception and birth, a great deal is happening, but the most "telling" thing which happens in the waiting time is that of development.  Waiting is often the process God uses to develop something in us which is not quite to the point of "full-development", isn't it?  Sure, we might do okay with the "arrested-development" of "pre-term" delivery of whatever it is was he might have been working on, but will we thrive?  Or will it take a whole lot of work and agony to get us past that "early delivery"?  I wonder how many times I have "arrested" the development process in my own life because I have been too stubborn, or too disinterested in the waiting process?

If you examine the thesaurus to find the synonyms for the word "wait", you will find terms such as "downtime", "interval", "hold", and even "halt".  One term which surprised me a little was when I saw the meaning of "wait" equals "wasted time".  I think we may view waiting as just that on occasion --- time spent, but "wasted" because we don't see the value in the wait.  Waiting isn't downtime - not really.  Even when you are waiting from the beginning of something to the point you might take the next step forward with the project, there could be this little space of time.  It is there for a reason. Maybe it is to give the "time" for the next step to be exactly right, such as when we give glue time to dry before we move on with the next step of a project.  So, downtime in this instance is necessary in order to take the next step.  It is quite possible some of the perceived "downtime" in our lives is simply God getting us ready for the next step!

When things seem to be "on hold" in our lives, we don't usually resist too much, until that "hold time" seems to exceed what we are willing to wait.  My office phone has one of those timers on it, letting you know at a glance just how much time you have "wasted" waiting "on hold" to be the next caller in the long line of callers!  I am not sure who invented that little timer on the phone, but it can be quite disconcerting to watch - knowing the minutes are ticking by and no one seems to care about the person who has been "on hold" for all those minutes!  To focus on the clock when the "hold time" seems to be taking forever is to just add frustration to the mix!  Instead of watching the timer, maybe we need to focus on whatever it is we can do in the interval! I try to use my "on hold" time to do something I may not have taken time to do in a while.  It may be something practical, such as filing papers, sorting messages, or just cleaning out my inbox.  Instead of focusing on the time I am "on hold", I redeem it!

Waiting is best appreciated when we don't do it alone!  If we look carefully at what our writer says to us  today, we will see this advice woven into those words!  He runs to God - so he won't face the wait alone.  Maybe we might just take a lesson here.  The wait time may not change significantly, but the things we learn to appreciate in the time between here and there may be made all the richer because of who it is we are spending the wait time with!  Just sayin!

Long enough

What is your "long enough"?  Most of us have some capacity for endurance, whether it be with the distance we walk, the amount of waiting we can tolerate, or the pain we are willing to experience before we resort to a means of relief.  "Long enough" is not a measure which is the same for each of us, but rather is a unique measure based on where we are emotionally, physically, spiritually, and even "relationally".  Sometimes our "long enough" is shortened because of emotions being on edge - too much coming at us at one time and stress building up within.  At other times, the same things could roll off our back without an issue, just because we were more "in balance" with our emotional stressors.  There is nothing more disheartening, though, than to come to the place of "long enough" when you are waiting on God to answer some need in your life.  In those times of "long enough", we want immediate relief, so any amount of waiting seems like an eternity and carries with it a huge "weight" of pressure.

Long enough, God—you’ve ignored me long enough.  I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain.  Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me.  Take a good look at me, God, my God; I want to look life in the eye, so no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face.  I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—I’m celebrating your rescue.  I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers. (Psalm 13 MSG)

It should not surprise any of us that one of the first places our minds go when we are at this place of "long enough" is this idea of God ignoring us. Somehow we equate waiting, or even what we think is the slightest delay in relief, as his "ignoring of us".  The furthest thing is the case, though, for it is totally inconsistent with God's character to "ignore" his children.  He cannot "ignore" issues we create, nor those we face because others have created them for us. He can be silent for a period, and this is probably where we get the impression he is "ignoring us".  Silence is not ignorance - it is simply God waiting to speak!

How do you know if you have reached your "long enough" point?  Since this is not the same for each of us and is as varied as the issues we face, there is not a cut and dry answer to this question.  There are "hints" we might be at that point, though.  One such hint is the tendency to "feel" like we are "talking to the hand" when it comes to our times of conversation with God.  If you are not familiar with that saying it means we think God has erected some barrier to our being heard - we are talking to his hand - totally missing his ear and definitely not affecting his heart!  Again, this is the furthest thing from his character, because God's intensity of love for his creation could never allow him to turn a deaf ear or be unmoved in his heart by their need.

Another hint of reaching our "long enough" is the tendency to have "frazzled" emotions.  When we are at the end of our rope, emotions are kind of like live wires.  We just don't know what will set us off the next time, and we cannot seem to move beyond those raw emotions.  Emotions are definitely "real" and cannot be denied.  We may find ourselves at our "long enough" point with emotions ranging from rage to depression, fear to apathy, or even sorrow to the depths of unyielding grief.  The further we go "into" our emotions, the worse the "long enough" appears to us.  There is a sensitivity to our situation which almost gets "blown out of proportion" simply because of the magnitude of our emotions.  This doesn't mean the circumstances aren't real, important, or specific to us.  It just means we may be unable to move out of them because our emotions are too frazzled to "deal" with them any longer.

Perhaps one of the most "telling" hints we have come to this place of "long enough" is feeling like the circumstances will never change - this is the way it is always going to be.  Some might call this losing hope.  In essence, all expectation is gone - there is no reasonable solution to the issues at hand, so we interpret this as being "hopeless".  This may be the easiest place to begin to bring change into the circumstances, though.  For every moment of "hopelessness" is a moment whereby we can begin to change our focus.  A lack of hope is oftentimes based on the reality of our focus - focus on the issue(s) long enough and they become insurmountable (a mountain in our path incapable of being scaled).  Focus on the next step in front of us one by one and the mountain becomes nothing more than a path we travel to get to the other side!

Regardless of why we might be at our "long enough" point today, we have the opportunity to express ourselves to the one who actually cares about our "long enough" moments.  God is not put off by our admittance of this feeling it has been "long enough" for us to be dealing with whatever it is.  In fact, he is probably just waiting for us to bring him our "long enough" and let him become our "more than enough".  Just sayin!

A waiting game indeed.

We have had this discussion before, but I know it is one of the hardest things to do - waiting on something or someone when you just want whatever it is to be "right now".  I don't think God "wired" us to wait with patience - it must be a "learned" thing because it doesn't exactly seem to come naturally!  If I actually ran into someone who really loved to wait, I think I'd either say they were not totally firing on all cylinders or they are deeply more spiritual than I am!  Since the latter may very well be true, I shall not pass judgment, but stand in awe of the one who can actually wait in patient serenity.  So, for the rest of us who don't really enjoy this process of waiting, let me take a few moments to remind US of something we sometimes forget - we WILL wait if we want God's best for our lives.  If we don't, we might just find ourselves bringing a little misery into them unnecessarily - and we all know how much it takes to "clean up" after we've made a mess!  So, in order to avoid the "clean up", I think we have to realize God's motivation in the waiting - it might just be to help us determine how intent we are on having his best!

God, the one and only—I’ll wait as long as he says.  Everything I need comes from him, so why not?  He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, an impregnable castle:  I’m set for life.   (Psalm 62:1-2 MSG)

If you were to examine the entire psalm, you'd find these exact words repeated twice in the course of twelve verses - meaning we should pay attention to them!  Right in the middle of the psalm comes the reminder:  My help and glory are in God — granite-strength and safe-harbor-God — so trust him absolutely, people; lay your lives on the line for him.  God is a safe place to be.  (vs.7-8 MSG)  The psalm begins with waiting as long as God says, reminds us of the importance of trusting God absolutely with all we've got, and then points out that strength comes from God himself.  So, if we were wondering where this "ability" or "strength" to wait comes, it comes from God directly, not from something we muster up inside of us.  Maybe this is where we get this "waiting" thing kind of mixed up in our minds - thinking God must want us to do something since it is taking longer than we thought to realize what it is he has promised in our lives.  In contrast, he may just be waiting for us to stop doing something and allow him to produce his best in us!

In the midst of waiting there is no safer place to be than secure in the arms of Jesus.  Whether we are waiting on the job to come through we so earnestly desire, or the healing for something which has been plaguing our health for sometime, we need to be in this "safe place" while we wait.  We come INTO God's best for our lives when we wait IN his arms for his best.  In scripture, we have illustrations of those who do things well, and of those who just took things into their own hands.  One such illustration can be found in the life of Abraham and Sarah, so desirous of having a child so they could see the fulfillment of something God had spoken into Abraham's life much earlier.  You see, God had promised Abraham he would become a "great nation" - in other words, to be the father of many descendants.  Low and behold, no child was forthcoming from his marriage to Sarah - she was barren.  Now, how could he ever become a father of many descendants if his wife couldn't help him bring forth children to carry on his name?  This is often the "set-up" for failure in our lives - whenever we begin to process in our brains what God intends for our hearts to lay hold of!  

So, since nothing was working in his attempts to have a child with Sarah, he takes on a bondwoman (a fancy term for a slave who would become his baby momma).  After all, Abraham was getting on in age (although they lived way longer in those days than we do now), so he couldn't delay "the plan", could he?  This is our second failing when it comes to waiting - we step outside of God's timing for whatever it is he intends for us.  From this union with Hagar, the bondwoman (or baby momma), comes Ishmael.  Now, Abraham had a son - someone to carry on his name and help him become the father of many nations.  After all, isn't that what God had promised?  So what if it was by his own doing and not God's? This might just be our third failure in the waiting process - thinking we know better than God, or that maybe he got distracted and lost track of time!

Ishmael comes along "just in the nick of time" according to Abraham's game plan, but his arrival did little to improve things for Abraham.  In fact, just about one year later, miracle of miracles, Sarah bears him a son!  Isaac is born.  To make matters more complicated, we find Ishmael not getting along well with Isaac - perhaps a little sibling rivalry in the works.  It is a feast day celebrating the weaning of Isaac, and Abraham hears clearly from God that Ishmael wasn't God's plan - he was Abraham's.  So, the birthright normally belonging to the "first-born" would not be going to Ishmael, but to Isaac. Talk about complications!  This may be the fourth thing we can glean from trying to step outside of God's timing - we usually make a mess of things and they get way more complicated than they need to be!  

Now Abraham has to deal with the "clean up" of what it was he had made a mess of - Hagar and Ishmael would have to be told of this "recent development" now very apparent to Abraham.  Weaning took place around the age of 2-4 years of age, or perhaps a little later.  From what Jewish tradition teaches, this "break up" with Hagar didn't happen until the time Ishmael was about 14 years old - a significant delay in "dealing with" the issue at hand, indeed.  This may bring about our fifth failure when it comes to waiting - sometimes we wait too long to let go of the things God says don't "belong" in his plan for our lives.  When we do, we deal with repeated grief and prolonged disappointment as the thing we are to let go of continues to taunt us and bring us heartache.

If we can see anything from the examples we have been given in scripture, it should be this:  Waiting ON God's best requires us to wait IN his presence. We don't "figure out" God's plan - he births it within us.  When we are waiting for the "birth" of his plan, we often get weary in the waiting, but the weariness of waiting is nothing compared to the drama and chaos of dealing with the stuff we take on when we aren't willing to wait.  Just sayin!

Waiting vs. waiting upon

Do you ever find yourself complaining that God seems to be looking the other way when you need his attention right now?  Or perhaps you think he has abandoned you to some state of misery?  I think we all have pretty much been there at least once, and if we were honest, we'd admit we come to this place a little too often before we realize God never abandons us.  We may not hear him as clearly, see how he is moving in the muddle we are in, or be strong in our faith that he is right there beside us, but he never lets us walk through stuff alone.  There were times when my kids were little that I'd suddenly realize I couldn't hear them anymore, knowing this sudden silence meant they were likely into some type of mischief!  In my losing track of what they were doing, they took full advantage of getting into something they knew they weren't supposed to be into - like pulling the toilet paper all off the roll in a huge pile around them on the floor, or dumping out all the baby powder and then proceeding to paint themselves with it!  Good news - God doesn't "lose track" of his kids!  If we wander into places of "mischief" in our lives, he is right there ready to correct us, redirect us, or recommission us.

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me.  He doesn’t care what happens to me”?  Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?  God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.  He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.  He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.  And he knows everything, inside and out.  He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.  For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.  But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.  (Isaiah 40:27-31 MSG)

There is power in waiting on the Lord to renew our souls, yet so many of us just wander around without the power we could tap into if we'd just take a few moments to wait upon him.  It is in "waiting upon" that we find the "energizing" for the task which is just ahead.  Maybe if we learned how to "wait upon" a little better, we might not feel like we are "out on our own" in so many of life's circumstances.  To wait means to exchange - we exchange our strength for his, our wisdom for his, our energy for his.  His knowledge to do it his way rather than our own is only found in the waiting.  The strength to do what is just ahead is only found in the moment of exchange.  So, if this is where the "exchange" happens, we need to learn how to "wait upon" as our "first option" rather than our "bail out" option!

Survivalist shows are abounding on TV these days.  These "reality shows" pair the most unlikely together to see if they will be able to make it through to the end of the torturous course ahead.  One thing becomes quite apparent as we watch these episodes - the survivors are the ones who "size up" the situation before they leap into it.  There is wisdom in waiting just a little bit before you take your first step, isn't there?  What probably comes across in these shows even clearer than this "sizing up" concept is the relationships which are formed - you don't survive alone!  Like it or not, we are not designed to live alone - we are designed for relationship.  We are "relational" creatures.  So many of us try to walk out this daily existence of our Christian faith alone and wonder why we find ourselves feeling lonely, abandoned, and without a shred of hope to hang onto.  We might just be at that point because we haven't engaged in the relationships we so desperately need in order to "survive" the harshness of the road upon which we travel!

Another reason we get ourselves into the place of feeling kind of abandoned is because we veer away from the principles we know to be true.  We try something completely different from what we know for sure is reliable, trustworthy, and upright.  Trust me - whenever I have veered from the principles I have learned through scripture, I've been burned!  We can live by all kinds of "good philosophy", but philosophy is just not going to cut it because the basic premise of any philosophy is to improve upon it.  In truth, God's Word cannot be improved upon!  It is more than philosophy - it is tried and true - nothing can be added, nothing taken away.  When we gravitate toward living by some type of "philosophy" in our lives, we are more susceptible to living by the culture of the day in which we live - if it feels good, doesn't appear to hurt anyone, and seems to carry some sense of reward for the one doing it, then it is okay to pursue.  Think again!  Just because it feels good to eat a chocolate bar each day doesn't make it good for a person who is struggling with their weight!  Just because my actions don't seem to outwardly hurt another, someone is watching who may be affected by those actions without my even knowing it!  Just because there is some reward for me in the actions I am taking doesn't mean it is the right thing for me!

When we allow God's words to get "worked into" the fibers of our lives, we have something upon which we might rely upon when we are faced with those moments of decision in life.  Waiting upon God allows for the "working in" to occur.  We are only able to stand - or withstand - when we have the right foundation.  The right foundation is never based upon something which needs improvement!  It is based upon that which cannot be improved upon!  This is why we need to get the Word of God into us - it gives us the stability of standing upon what cannot be improved upon!  Too many times we "improvise" in this life.  We step out, not sure where we are going, then improvise to get from point A to B.  There is a certain stability which comes into our lives when we learn to live by design and not by default.  To really learn what it is we are designed to live by, we need time to wait upon God.  

This "waiting upon" thing is really not all that complicated.  In seeking God, you find yourself - for he designed you!  In seeking him, you are free to be who he made you to be.  Discovery comes in waiting upon - not just in waiting, but in waiting upon.  In the most literal sense, the difference is in the activity level of each.  Waiting bespeaks inactivity - waiting upon refers a certain level of activity or involvement.  When we wait upon God, we aren't just passively standing by until he says move.  We are engaging in what we know to do - like prayer, time in the Word, taking the steps of faith we know to take, then patiently listening for the wisdom about the steps we don't know how to take yet.  When we engage with him, he engages with us.  It is active waiting God is directing us toward, not passivity.  Passive "service" is really not service at all.  Just sayin!

Sign me up!

Okay, I have asked this question before, but it begs asking again - how many of you actually enjoy waiting?  In this whole wide world, I don't think there are very many people who would respond, "Oh, sign me up for that one!  I love to wait!"  Most of us struggle with the wait - it starts in our infancy and continues into our adulthood.  Diapers demanded changing - not on Mom's schedule, but on ours.  Tummies needed filling - not always in the timeframe others were "hungry".  As we got a little older, boys weren't attracted to girls or girls to boys as fast as we'd have liked.  Blemishes seemed to take an eternity to disappear, but appeared totally without warning seemingly overnight!  As we moved into adulthood, there was this concept of "putting in our time" before anything like an advancement came.  All this hurry up and wait business just lends to the frustration we feel with waiting.  When our waiting involves what God has to do for us, and not what we could be doing for ourselves, we get even more frustrated, don't we?

I waited and waited and waited for God.  At last he looked; finally he listened.  He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud.  He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip.  He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God.  More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.  (Psalm 40:1-3 MSG)

Sometimes we don't think anything at all is happening when the waiting occurs.  It seems like there is no movement and this is frustrating.  What we fail to recognize is something I have observed with the use of a pre-treat spray for the stains in my clothing.  If I spray it on and immediately put it in the washer with water and detergent, the stains don't always come out. But...if I wait just a little while, I often see the stain beginning to fade even before it hits the laundry tub!  What happened in the waiting?  The thing which was so stubbornly resistive began to break-down.  I wonder if this isn't a little bit of what happens in the "waiting period" with God.  He allows the outward, and sometimes even the inward circumstances to press against what needs to move in us!  

As I have said before, waiting periods are often the times when we are being "set up" for our greatest opportunities for growth.  It may not seem like it at first, but the growth comes in direct correlation to the wait.  If you have ever planted anything, one thing you know is the time it takes for any sign of growth to actually occur.  Until the first little hint of growth begins to crack through the soil, you have absolutely know idea what is happening in this time between planting and "evidence" of growth.  In the process of getting to the open spaces above the soil, the seed has a whole lot of pressures under the soil exerting themselves upon that little seed.  In the period between planting and breaking forth, the pressures actually help to produce the growth. The pressure of the soil against the tough outside "shell" of the seed has to breakdown a bit before the water will be able to nourish it, right?  The soil holds the water against the seed's outer coating long enough, and with just enough pressure to begin to break down the "toughness" of the shell.

The one waiting to see growth above the surface often forgets about what is taking place just a short distance from where the first hint of growth will begin to appear.  No one plants a seed thinking it will not grow.  It is just like me pre-treating my clothes before I was them - I expect the stain to be gone when it comes out of the washer.  If I think the stain is a little more stubborn than the run-of-the-mill stain, I might even pre-treat, then apply a little more outward "pressure" by scrubbing it a little with my hands before it goes into the laundry tub.  Why?  Sometimes the pressure needs to be a little harder on those things which are more resistant.  God often asks us to do some things in the period of waiting - some of them will actually assist us in realizing the growth he desires to see.  When we realize he does his part, but we also need to do whatever part he asks of us, we find our growth experience is much more enjoyable!

Here are just some quick tips for the seasons of waiting:
- Complaining doesn't lessen the wait.  In fact, it often increases the pressure.  It is better to admit we are struggling with the waiting, asking God to change our attitude, than it is to pluck our seed up and go home!
- Faith is built not so much by what we know to be true, but by what we begin to experience to be true.  Nothing related to faith ever seems to come in the packages marked "instant", does it?  When we rely upon what we know to be true, we often begin to take steps to believe what we cannot see.  Just as we plant the seed believing it will grow into a healthy little plant, our faith is built by "planting" what we know, then relying upon what we know to help us experience even greater things in the time between knowing and "seeing".
- Some of the waiting time is really to allow the pressure to build up a little because we have some stuff which only gets to the place it should be because some type of pressure moved upon it.  Rather than resist the pressure, we must learn to see the pressure as a thing which actually begins to breakdown what otherwise would remain immovable.  Just sayin!