They that wait...

They that wait!

In our lives waiting seems like something we run as fast away from as possible.  To wait is a weakness.  We seem to be all about trying to get to point B as fast as we can go.  Not to mention C,D,E.

We rush in traffic, try to get to the shortest line, complain when we have to wait on the phone with a customer service rep.  Speed on the highway...and in the city.  We want immediacy at all cost.  The sad reality is that we are fostering a culture that is all about satisfaction, gratification and responses that need to come to us as quickly as possible...by yesterday if at all possible.

I know what it is to wait.  For an answer...for a solution.  I also know that I'm not a good wait-er.  in the midst of waiting I rush to find a solution.  I'm propelled to find the answer immediately or that quick fix.  Sometimes that's good but there is something deep in the way of the wait that gets lost in this reaction.

I waited 20 years for an answer to my prayer..."Change me GOD! Take this attraction away and make me normal!"  Did I wait faithfully?  Where did I place my hope?

Isaiah 40:31

...but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint. 

I have to admit that looking back my hope was to be that normal Christian.  You know, the one with no problems?  They have it all together.  They know how to pray, read the word, say the right things, they have a great marriage and great kids.  That Christian.  For me, that was what I felt was what I needed to attain in order to be fulfilled and living a life that was of worth and meaning.  I was hoping for an easy life...because isn't that what being a Christian means?

They that wait...they that put their hope in the Lord...

I've come to know through a struggle that I wouldn't wish on anyone, but wouldn't trade it either, that there is a deep work in the place of waiting and the greatest...THE GREATEST treasure still awaits me.  I find a deep peace in this place, even though it isn't without struggle.  

I've gained new strength in this place of waiting and I've realized an even more organic and deeper picture of this place of hope.  I can hope for many things, but apart from God, they are all meaningless.  My hope has to be fully in God in all areas of my life.  In who I am as a son, a man, a brother, friend, husband, father, Pastor.  Where does my hope lie?  My hope in the Lord needs to lie down in green pastures, where my soul is restored.  It needs to rise up on wings like eagles, it needs to rush into the strong tower to be safe, and to be hidden under the shelter of HIS wing.

It isn't a hope with an expectation that I will get what I think I deserve, need or want.  It is a hope that says...God be God!  It is a hope that says God you are ENOUGH...Period...and to be honest...I'm not there yet.  My humanness gets in the way, it creeps in and tries to disillusion me, confuse me and it causes me to compare and to somehow think I am missing out...but in all reality, I am right in the place God has me...for the time being and I'm called to live fully right in this place.

So hope in the Lord...you will gain new strength...you will rise on wings like eagles.  You will run and not grow weary, you will run and not faint.

You are not alone...