Waiting when it hurts

Exactly 4 weeks later. What ups and downs. Heroic faith and a flop. Reading of Saul and David. Heroic faith and a flop.

Theology is easy. Following is difficult, especially with a nature that rebels and insists that God takes too long. Waves seem to be the invitations to doubt. Drowning doesn’t appear to have an upside, even if our flaying to stay alive means we have to disobey the author of life. There are days you wish God would just blow the trumpet and get this over with.

So, the Lord asks us to wait. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. I guess this means that in waiting, you lose strength. Didn’t see that coming. Saul waited and lost strength as he saw the people leaving him. David was anointed and waited for years…a couple in Ziglag and then 7 in Hebron, to be fully made king. I guess waiting is draining….no, let me say it distinctly, waiting is very draining.

And to think, God asks us to do it. And sometimes it is because we’ve made all the right decisions. Obey the Lord…and it produces a result, but not a comfortable one. Elijah prayed for it not to rain. God took care of him for a while, but then the brook dried out. Now what? Go to starving widow. You just go, trusting, waiting.

Waiting means, eventually, obeying and looking to the Lord. Eventually, because finally there is nothing left to do. No distractions or small forays forward meet the need for which you await an answer. You act to do the nitty-gritty of living with a drying creek, but His word is the release. And where will His word find us. That is the rub or worry. Will we have lost weight, lost possessions, lost credibility, lost everything?

Yet, what do we really lose if we wait. We gain faith and eventually we gain renewed strength. But for me, I want to gain Christ. I’m tired of not “getting it.” I want Him. Paul wanted this too and seemed to find it, following Him in the mission, learning the secret of contentment in all circumstances, in plenty and hunger, in abundance and want. He learned to do all things through Him who strengthens.

So the ship sits in the ocean with no breeze to drive it. You wait. The creek dries and the throat is parched and the birds have not returned. You wait. The armies of the philistines gather and the troops give up. You wait. A promise is made, but you despair in waiting. And still, you wait. God works everything for good with those who love Him, who are called according to HIS purpose. And so we wait, for “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31