Tuesday, February 2, 2016

How do we respond when God is silent?

Have you ever been in a period of your life where you are just waiting for the Lord's direction and nothing is happening? It seems like He is quiet and elusive, maybe even far away. I know that I have been there in past situations and right now I am currently experiencing the disheartening "wait". 

I know I prefer a yes or even no over a wait but maybe that is why I seem to get them more often. Maybe it is not so much about where I am going in life as it is about how I am getting there, who I am meeting along the way and what encounters the Lord has for me to make while I seem to be "stuck" in one place. Maybe I need to learn patience, the very thing I have to remind my children about daily. Or maybe I lack faith when I ask the Lord to show himself strong and that is why I have to wait, until my faith is stronger.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

It would seem I need to let patience have her perfect work but how do I do that? In this day and age when everything seems to need a quick response do I have the time to wait? I know that the longer I am on this earth that what I have in mind is not always the best but whenever the Lord directs the way it is always better than what I wanted in the first place. 

 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

If I want His best then I can't rush God or take matters into my own hands, that is when bad things happen. Take Sarah for example, God promised to make Abraham's descendants as numerous as the stars, (Gen 15: 4-6) while Abraham believed his wife thought that it would be impossible for them to have children in her old age, so she gave her servant girl to her husband instead. Now the children of the servant and the children of Abraham and Sarah will always be at odds with each other because of Sarah's lack of faith, taking matters into her own hands, trying to bring about the promise in her own time.

But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

I find in these trying times, when my faith is tested and I am in a waiting period, that it causes me to look deeper at my life and the promises of the Lord. It can either strengthen my faith or cause me to loose hope and grasp for an earthly solution. I want to be strong, so just like physical exercise my faith and patience need to be excised as well in order to gain spiritual muscle and stamina. I have trained myself to like physical exercise but I have neglected to train myself to like the spiritual exercise of waiting on the Lord. I must praise and worship God while I wait. That is what I was created for and really all these other things don't matter. I was made for worship. 

               In His time and in His way all things will work together, all I need to do is worship.

            Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
                                                               The Farmer in the Dell

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