Have you ever had to wait on the Lord?
Two months ago, I injured my hip and knee falling on a flow rider (surf simulator) and since then I have been doing a lot of sitting and waiting… waiting for my body to heal and not being able to do the things that I want.
Sometimes the same is true in our spiritual lives. Sometimes we find ourselves in a season of waiting on the Lord and not being able to do the things that we think we should be doing. It is a time of waiting and trusting that God has everything under control.
This year in Teen Bible Quizzing we have been studying the book of Acts, with the radical transformation of Saul into the Apostle Paul. Acts explains how Paul was a dynamic missionary, preaching everywhere he went, with dramatic stories of God’s rescue and guidance in life threatening situations. What an exciting life of adventure, and yet many of his later years he spent in jail or under house arrest, no doubt waiting for God to deliver him. No doubt thinking of all the places he ought to be going and all the work that needed to be done. Yet it was in this time of waiting that Paul writes the “prison epistles” that now make up four of the books of the New Testament. These books would probably never have been written if Paul had not been in a season of waiting. Even in this time, God used Paul in ways that he could not have imagined, encouraging the church for two thousand years. It is in the 1st chapter of Philippians that Paul explains that he has come to the conclusion that this time of imprisonment was actually serving to advance the Gospel. That he was still pressing on to win the prize, to fulfill the calling that God had placed on his life.
Our lives may not be as dramatic as the Apostle Paul (we probably have never been imprisoned or stoned to death), but we often find ourselves in seasons of uncertainly, in seasons of feeling lost, in seasons of endearing affliction, in seasons of wondering “where is God in the middle of all this?” Sometimes all we can do is wait and trust that He works in ways we cannot see. Sometimes all we can do is press on in the guidance that we have been given, to use the gifts and talents in which we have been entrusted, to see and love the people that God has put in our path. Sometimes God cares most about “how” we live, in relationship with others, in the midst of all that this crazy life throws at us. Sometimes all we can do is live in the certain hope that God is working all things for the good of those who love him. We may not understand, we certainly can’t see the big picture of all that God is doing, but sometimes all we can do is keep living, and trusting, and praying, and waiting…
As we go through this week, here are a few verses to reflect upon:
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Psalms 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”.
James 1:3-4 “Let perseverance finish its work so you may be mature and complete.”
Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
As the song continues, let this be our prayer, “Teach me Lord… teach me Lord… to wait.”
Pastor Vern