Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans that I have for you,’
declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future
and a hope.’”
The sea was calm
The Captain in control
When out of nowhere a rogue wave crashes into the boat.
Peaceful calm abandoned in the pitching for mindless fear.
Passengers and crew alike scramble for life preservers
Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who
wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like
eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
This little passage of
scripture is framed and has sat on my desk for probably twenty-five years or
more. But I am here to tell you that I never understood it until this past
week. I always considered the passage a faith statement, that IF I will wait for
God, then He will give me strength. Somehow I needed to mustard up patience,
and hold myself back, and then God would act on my behalf.
But what I am experiencing
is something very different. Something that does not involve faith,
self-discipline, or even “waiting” in the traditional sense.
Before seeing this new
truth the “waiting” was just some divine, necessary delay between today and me
getting what I want. It was there to keep me from being spoiled, like a parent
may cause a child to delay their gratification. But that is not it at all. I
think to truly understand it, we must first be stripped of the wanting all
together. That life is not about our desires, pleasure, and fulfillment;
but rather is about loving God and having our character shaped into
His image. When we understand this, we begin to understand what the
prophet meant when he said, “those who wait for the Lord…”
Reality is that perhaps
even the modern translators have this scripture wrong. According to my minor
research the Hebrew word for “wait” as used in this scripture means also to
“bind together.” So “those (who are bound together) with the Lord will gain new
strength…”
Practically speaking I am
in a place in my life that I have been to many times. Staring into what seems
to be a clear vision of a blessed future, and yet for the first time I am not
trying to run ahead. I am not “staying busy” while I “wait” on God. I do not
have to stir up patience. I am not here combating anxiousness. But rather I am
so clearly bound together with God, and He has paused. Therefore WE wait. Can
you see the difference? The wait is not because I don't see God moving, or that
He is trying to "teach me a lesson." The wait is simply because He
stopped. And because I so enjoy His company, I stopped too.
Does this ring true with
your experience, even if only the running and wanting to get done in spite of
God’s pause?
I cannot describe the peace
and contentment I feel knowing that I am with God, and that He is doing nothing
with me at the moment. He has paused on the mountain top to look at the valleys
and mountains of the future. I can try to run ahead, or just the opposite be
overwhelmed by the task of crossing such a great distance. But no, I am bound
together with God, and we will go together in His perfect timing… on the wings
of eagles, without becoming tired or weary.
