There are an inordinate number of people I know waiting for something. One friend is waiting for her husband's new job prospect to come through, another is waiting for a family member to pass on, another is waiting for things to change with her church, and I am waiting for my house to sell. It seems I have been doing more waiting than anything else in the past ten years of my life.
Waiting is such a hard thing to do. And when the waiting is prolonged we become impatient and angry that God's will is taking so long to be revealed in our lives. I am not a patient person by nature, I am much more "Action Woman." Let's make it happen, let's get it done, let's move so all this waiting is very hard for me to bear; and especially in how it relates to my being reunited with my husband in the same house.
As I pray about these things for myself and others I am reminded of the Hebrews and their captivity in Egypt. Their captors made their lives bitter, and full of hardship. They were not free to do what they wished in daily life because they had to answer to a higher authority in the overseer that Pharaoh set in place to rule them.
Many of us feel the same way in these trying times. Stuck in dead-end jobs with bosses we don't like, who are not fair or just. Helplessly watching our government officials spend our money on things we disapprove of, living under the authority of an unloving husband or father. And in my case, tied to this house that has not sold.
So many people, all crying "LET ME GO!" Just as the Hebrews did, and for 400 years God was silent. As I pray for my desires God reminds me that He is in charge of my life. He reminds me that this will end when He as decreed it will end and not one moment sooner or later than that.
It can be very, very frustrating to keep waiting- but it is a pure test of faith. How long will we believe, how long will we hope, how long will we trust... Will you give up and follow other gods? Will your heart be hardened and become bitter during this process? One day God will do with you as He did with the Hebrews-
So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them. Exodus 2:24, 25
Just as God did with them, God hears your cries and prayers for relief from your trial. Just because you cannot see His hand moving does not mean He is still and distant. Because God sees the whole picture, and what pieces need to be in place for your situation to be resolved He is most certainly working toward that end. God is not stagnant nor is He uninvolved in your personal trials and hardships. Hebrews says that our High Priest does sympathize with us in our weakness because He has been tested in all ways as you and I are tested! (Heb. 4:15) That should instill great confidence in you my friends!
God remembered Israel and God has not forgotten you either! When we take to feeling sorry for ourselves we want to think that God has forgotten us, or has us on "hold" or "ignore" or that He just doesn't care about our plight. Nothing could be more impossible!
"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me." Isaiah 49:16,
" ...you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory." Eph. 1:13b,14
Has this got you thinking? I sure did me, which is why I set out to write this post. I will put the capstone on it next time!Labels: Patience, Perserverance, Suffering