Before I leave for Europe (in a couple hours), I've been wanting to post about what I learned this past 2 weekends. Well, more like what God taught me.
It all started the Sunday before I left for Cleveland. The sermon given was about Waiting. 120+ verses in the bible are about waiting, putting your hope in God, etc. The speaker talked about how waiting is a discipline, waiting is required, and waiting develops maturity in that it allows you to see the big picture, see everything through God's eyes instead of your own.
Little did I know, that was the lesson I was going to learn last week in Cleveland. I heard it over and over in many of my conversations with people. Conversations that were unplanned but that God orchestrated. I heard very clearly from God: Wait and grow.
In my mind, "waiting" is like the play "Waiting for Godot". It's a static waiting. A pause while nothing happens and you just sit there and wait. But that's not the waiting that God talks about in the bible. Acts shows us an active waiting on God for the Holy Spirit/Pentecost. I've heard many times that God commands us to "actively" wait. And it wasn't until last week that I realized what that looked like. I realize that God has me on this growing path in TN right now. I am to walk faithfully on that path, all the while being open to what God has planned for me in the future (marriage, etc.). I don't know when, where, or how I'll find someone and get married. But that doesn't bother me anymore (God's been growing me a lot in that in the past year). There's an order to God's plan. PJ opened my eyes to seeing that in Genesis the order is this: God created Adam and gave him a job. He worked at the job for awhile (naming animals) THEN he received a wife. After the wife, THEN came children. In the bible, there are plenty of people/examples of those who did not wait: Abraham and Hagar, Saul and Samuel, The Israelites and the golden calf, etc. I could go on. In recent months, I've seen what can happen if people don't wait and I've seen the results of people who did wait. And I feel so loved by God that He would show me these things and let me learn from them this very important lesson before I make one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
I once read in a book, "If we already know we want to get married, why wait?"
I used to think, "yeah, sure. Why not? Why wait?"
But now, I know the answer. We must wait on God's timing because God calls us to wait. When we wait, we grow in discipline and mature spiritually, emotionally, mentally and in our relationships. That is the key.
The reasons for not waiting are many: fear, God's seemingly impossible promises that couldn't possibly come true in our eyes, etc. Of all of them, I think fear is the biggest factor when it comes to waiting for marriage. PJ was saying how in the past, people were getting married at older ages but nowadays, it seems as if that trend is reversing. He thinks its because people are panicking. People fear they can't do the long distance thing, people fear they won't be able to find anyone after college, people fear that they won't be able to have children if they get any older, etc. All legitimate and real fears that everyone faces (myself included!). In the end, it's all about trust. Do I trust in God? If I do, then I will wait on Him.
Psalm 5:3 - In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Psalm 27:14 [this psalm is a particularly good psalm against fear and it ends with this climax] - Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 33:20 - We wait in hope for the LORD, He is our help and our shield
Psalm 37:7 - Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
[for me: do not fret when all those around you demonstrate "success" in their relationships (e.g. by getting married, etc). Those are THEIR ways.]
Psalm 40:1 [This is a promise to me by God. I will hold God to this verse] - I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
Psalm 130:5-6 - I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
yes, the waiting is sometimes torturous. My desire often feels like it is greater than the desire of watchmen on a night shift for the morning. And it is in times like this, I remember Psalm 73:21-26, 28. These verses got me through last week though I was very weak in my heart and flesh. And so I conclude with Psalm 73:
Psalm 73:21-26, 28
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
"My desire often feels like it is greater than the desire of watchmen on a night shift for the morning."
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for the other two editors, but if you can replicate amazing turns of phrase like that again in the future, I am extending an invitation to you to write a guest editorial for my school's newspaper. Seriously, that was some fantastic writing there. I was blown away by that...I had this mental image of of watchmen huddled in the crow's nest on a ship scanning the sea for icebergs on a still and dark night...I can't get over how great that was.
As far as the topic of the post, you're right in not settling and waiting for God's perfect timing in not only relationships, but everything else. PJ has a sign in his house that I love that says "Time Spent Waiting on God Is Never Time Wasted"...it's so true and I can testify over and over about the times that I've had to wait for God for a variety of different things, and although the waiting was painful, it turned out to be 100% worth it in the end and the blessing turned out to be better than I could have ever dreamed.