I am not the only one who waits! We are all in this together.
What do you do when God calls you to His Wait Room. Oh I know - the waits are heavy and you struggle to lift them. You long for the trial to end. You wish you didn't have to put your life on hold. Why can't we just get on with our plans?
I wish it were that simple. Tonight In Bible study - Wait Training, we finally accepted the fact that we are all called upon to wait and it just might be a good thing!
Hezekiah waited. We have been studying all about his waits. He didn't seem to be side tracked, though. He concentrated on what he could do instead of fretting over the things he couldn't do. He couldn't leave Jerusalem and go to battle against his enemy- or at least God didn't call him to do so. Instead he focused on worshiping God, tearing down all the idols in his nation and digging deep into the rock under his grand city. Why did he dig into the rock? He hollowed out a tunnel so water would freely flow into Jerusalem. He focused on providing for the citizens and he succeeded. The feat he accomplished made him famous and brought water into the city limits.
Besides looking at what Hezekiah did while he waited we studied the lives of nine Old Testament women and analyzed their waits. What inspiration we gained by simply looking up several women like Rebekah, Moses' mother and sister, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Naomi and others. After reading about each woman's life we asked ourselves several questions:
Who was she?
What was she waiting for?
How did she wait?
What was her focus?
What was her response?
What were her consequences?
We learned about the courage of these women, their intelligence and good choices. We found out they truly honored God with their lives and sought after Him. Their obedience, trust, and knowledge amazed us. We learned we have a God who stands in the ready to reach out a hand to us, if we would trust Him. He certainly provided for the women we studied and HE will provide for us!
I challenge you to choose a woman of the Bible and become intimately acquainted with her, especially where it concerns her time in God's Wait Room. Who knows you may find you have something in common with a woman who lived centuries, maybe millennia ago!
Let me know what you find out!
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3 comments:
Van,
I have been in a waiting room lately myself, and have become a little too passive in my wait. Thanks for the reminder to look at what I can do while waiting for God to act!
Hey, Van!
I have found waiting to be a much active process! Sometimes I need reminded of this little fact though. I loved Susanne Scheppmann's urging to us at SheSpeaks to wait actively for responses to our queries as writers. I've found myself paralyzed lately in this area. Waiting. Waiting. Not growing or pursuing other options. Hmmm. Okay. Better get busy.
This world is full of waitin'. As soon as one prayer is answered, we're waitin' on something else!
It shouldn't surprise us b/c the LORD reveals thru His servant Paul that love is...1.) patient...(It's a love problem, people! Man, I don't like it when I see my own scanty love issues!)
In essence all of our problems - and especially the greatest two we Christian women deal with most often (fear & impatience) - are rooted in a lack of love. It always ends up right back there, doesn't it? ;o)
I think I'll go pray...