Saturday, June 22, 2013

Learning to Wait on the Lord

     

      I have never enjoyed waiting.  To me it feels like being promised a gift, shown the gift, but never being allowed to open the gift.  As soon as we joined ReachGlobal I assumed that God would instantly start building up our team or prayer and financial partners.  However, that didn’t happen.  It has been a very slow process.  Even though there are a ton of verses like Psalm 27:14 (Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!) which talk about waiting, it never occurred that God could ask us to wait for Him.  
Many frustrated days I have asked, “Is this really what God has called us to?”  At first, my answer was “I think so.”  Then, “Yes.”  And now, “Absolutely.”  Having to wait for our team of partners to grow has caused me to pray significantly more than I would have if the growth would have been instantaneous.  Praying and waiting has caused me to see that He ALONE must be my rock or I will always be shaken. 
During this last month we saw very little growth in our team.  As I was talking to the Lord about my discouraged heart He brought me to the story of Gideon in Judges 6.  When the angel of the Lord told him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.”  Gideon’s response was, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?  And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’  But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hands of Midian” (Judges 6:13).  God showed me that I had an attitude like Gideon was displaying.  Gideon has heard stories of God delivering Israel from Egypt and of great miracles, but Gideon had never personally experienced it and his daily life made him feel as if God has abandoned them.  In a similar way I have heard tons of stories of God’s faithful provision, but I have never personally experienced it on a grand scale.  
      God’s response to Gideon: “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian.  Have I not sent you?”  (Judges 6:14).  The Midianites had a massive army which would have been daunting, yet Gideon could find confidence in the fact that God had called Him to that task.  In the same way, I have heard stories of God’s provision over the years and our task right now seems daunting, but I can rest in the fact that Jamie and I are confident that God has called us to this task, and He alone is our Rock.

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.

Psalm 62:2
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.

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