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1997-01-10 - Waiting
Waiting is one of the hardest things for us sometimes, yet we spend a lot
of our time here on Earth, waiting. Anxiously waiting for medical test results.
Impatiently waiting in long lines in campus bookstores. Excitedly waiting
for a special date.
For most of my life, I have considered that waiting was just something to
endure, something that will help to develop our patience. And I try
to wait patiently. I sometimes have prayed for patience in waiting. But our
interim minister gave me -- through a recent sermon -- a new perspective
on waiting. He said that waiting is God's school, wherein we learn some of
His most valuable lessons for us … Wow!
Heb 6:15 (NIV) And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was
promised.
Abram and Sarai didn't trust that God was really going to give them the promised
son. They thought they had better take things into their own hands. So they
jumped ahead of God, by getting Abram together with Hagar, Sarai's servant.
They learned that they should have waited. By jumping ahead of God's plan,
they brought heartache upon themselves:
Gen 16:4-6 (NIV) He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew
she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to
Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant
in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May
the LORD judge between you and me." 6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram
said. "Do with her whatever you think best."
Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Paul originally wanted to be delivered from his suffering in prison. But
after the long wait, he learned that God was glorified more, by him remaining
imprisoned:
2 Cor 12:8-10 (NIV) Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away
from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power
is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why,
for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardship, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Let's see if we can start looking at waiting differently -- not as something
to "just get through." Let's wait actively, not passively. Let's ask
God to help us learn from the times we are in "holding patterns," and to
use us to minister to others even while we are waiting. Sometimes other people
can learn from how we handle waiting. Sometimes, we don't find out until
later, that we are blessing people. Sometimes, we might not even find out
until we are in Heaven! But you can be sure that God can use
EVERYthing.
Dear Lord, please help us to remember, during waiting periods -- whether
they be short or long ones -- to ask Your help. Help us to learn what You
would have us to learn, and please use us to bless others as we are waiting.
In Jesus' name, amen.
: ) Jan
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