Skip to main content

Purposeful Waiting

Lamentations 3:25
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”
Waiting is difficult. So much so that waiting on the Lord seems almost unbearable. Because of my fallen nature, my mind is consumed with self, focusing on fulfilling the desires of my own heart rather than walking the path of righteousness that the Lord has set forth in front of me. Why? Because I assume that the plans which I create for myself are better than the plans of the One who created me. The Lord knows the desires of my heart, He placed them there purposefully. If only I would surrender them to Him, waiting on His good and perfect timing would not become such a heartache. I would not have to bear the consequences of wrongful decisions because my reliance and trust that the Lord is going to provide for me will prevent me from falling into the lie that compromise is okay. Compromise is the enemy receiving victory as I settle for less than what the Lord so desperately wants to give me if only I would wait on Him. I have been reminded almost daily for the past two weeks to wait. I constantly find myself questioning the reason why I am to wait but the conversation never continues past that four letter word. However, through the waiting, I have found refuge in the arms of Jesus because when I seek Him during this time of uncertainty, He becomes my strength, my strong tower. I have come to the realization that this state of neediness is exactly where the Lord wants me to be for this is where He is able to mold and shape me into the image of Jesus. This is where His Holy Spirit can be poured out into me as I willingly surrender my desires for His glory, watching as I wait how He brings to fruition what He has asked me to lay down. 

Application
This week, I will write Lamentations 3:25 on a bookmark and use it while I am reading as a reminder to wait upon the Lord. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Overwhelming Conflict

Psalms 91:2 “I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.””  This past Sunday, team Uganda had the privilege to lead the two church services. From worship to the sermon, the Lord was present. Having never sung in front of really anyone to being on the worship team and having not one, but two solos, was rather frightening. In addition to having a spirit of fear, the morning of, I was faced with a myriad of conflict as a glob of toothpaste dropped slyly onto the shirt I was planning on wearing, I did not have a necklace to match the shirt I then had to put on, and I ran out of time for curling my hair and ironing my skirt. I knew the enemy was seeking to do whatever he could to focus my eyes on myself rather than on what the Lord was attempting to do in and through me for that day, but I was already defeated and left wondering how a day that had begun so terribly could have a positive outcome. I needed a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spir...

The Transformation

Mark 7:17 “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the thins which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.” As I was reading my devotional this morning, it touched on something that I had said early on in my time here in Uganda: “You can’t run from sin because you can’t run from you.” Sin truly does live in my heart and it is only when I run to Jesus, who is the only One who can deliver me from myself, that my heart can be radically transformed. I can and have attempted in my own strength to change my heart, but this has only led to condemnation and failure. The Lord never asked me to fix myself, He has asked me to do nothing other than cry out to Him at street level so that He can fix me in my most broken state. That is how He wants me: battered, bruised, and broken because this is when I am honest; this is when I want nothing more than for the Father to fix what I have ruined, again. But, when I attempt to change what only the L...

Selfless Love

Romans 15:1 “We who are strong ought to bear with the fallings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” Hebrews 6:10 reminds us, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Our God is faithful to His promises, rewarding those who are humble, who become weak to win the weak, who bear the burden, and who love selflessly. However, we as humans are deceiving as we do almost everything to benefit ourselves in one way or another. Especially when it comes to others, helping someone can sometimes quickly become a personal gain that we use to make ourselves seem superior to the one whom we are helping. However, we are called to love others the way in which Christ has loved us, selflessly. To love selflessly is to humble ourselves and love without gain, bearing the burden of another simply to encourage them in their battle and allow them to recognize that they are not alone. Life is difficult as ...