Waiting

Wait for the Lord – Not Everyone else!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Have you ever noticed how much we allow our decisions to be based on what other people are doing? Now some things should be based on others such as not snapping the ball till the quarterback tells you.

But what about our spiritual life? I thought a few stories from the Bible might illustrate the point. David didn’t wait for his family’s permission to fight Goliath. Mary didn’t check in with Joseph before saying yes to the angel. John the Baptist certainly wasn’t chilling out until Herod gave him a parade permit to hold his meetings and Jesus wouldn’t wait for His disciples to understand before He went to the cross.

Part of our problem is that for the big and eternally important choices in life we wait on every one but God. We ask our friends, family and neighbors what they think about a project but how often have we stayed on our knees waiting on God’s opinion? We boldly sail off to the horizon but end up paddling as fast as we can for home at the first sign of trouble. We lack the courage David speaks of in the second half of the verse because God was not the architect of our planning session. But when we have waited on Jesus He will give us joy for the journey He is sending us on. No matter the storm the hour or the current public opinion, it is always the right time to do His will!

I so loved this simple hymn by Brackin and Lindsay with their boys. It is in that quietness and simplicity that God most often speaks if we will take the time to wait.

Waiting on God’s Weaving

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Wait for the Lord: be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.           Psalm 27:14 ESV

One of my least favorite plays (which I was compelled to watch because mom said so) was titled “Waiting for Gadot” It involved a couple of guys hanging around  waiting for a friend who guess what…never showed up! For an eight year old who far preferred Davy Crockett; Daniel Boone or Kidnapped; this was akin to Chinese water torture. Though I hated the play, it left an indelible impression on me about waiting. However when King David uses the word wait in this Psalm he isn’t at all suggesting the waiting for the train kind of waiting that we might associate with it.

Instead the Hebrew word for wait: quvah – comes from a root which implies two cords being woven together into a rope. Secondarily it includes something that my second language of Portuguese calls it; which is hope. In fact in Portuguese hoping and waiting are even the exact same word!

So what you might ask, “what good does that do for me?” That’s a great question and the answer is plenty! This kind of waiting isn’t just hanging out and hoping that God will show up. In fact God already has shown up in Bethlehem and His plan since that moment is that in our times of doubt and fear that our hearts will be steadily and slowly woven together with His. As the Apostle Paul states  in his letter to the Romans:

“And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Romans 5:5 ESV

So whether our crisis is a sickness like the Corona virus which has brought our nation to a halt; a broken relationship or shattered dreams, God is right here – right now waiting for you and I. His heart is open and ready to receive us when we open our hearts to receive Him. As Jesus hung  in agony on the cross He gave His spirit into His Father’s hands. Our waiting on God means putting our hearts into His hands and then stepping back as the Holy Spirit weaves us together with Him in the love of Jesus Christ!

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