Let Us Be Patient & Wait Upon Our LORD
Patience is a virtue & one I struggle with daily.
Driving from place to place, I wish to be first in line, but will we EVER truly be first on a roadway?
Healing of my back, I really desire for complete healing which will give me more sleep, but sometimes I wonder, “Am I missing a great truth that God is attempting to reveal to me during this season of pain?”
Yesterday, the moon was a beautiful whiteness that seemed to lead me all the way across the parkway as I drove west. Even if we attempted to take a photo of the beauty of yesterday’s moon, it would have been impossible to capture the essence of its beauty.
As the sun arose in the eastern sky, there was a particular moment when—off to my left—there hung the beauty of the moon in the western sky & then—off to my right—there rose the beauty of the sun in the eastern sky—AND I SUDDENLY REALIZED HOW I RESIDED WITHIN THE MIDDLE.
The middle.
Protected on both sides–the right and the left, just as the Israelites were led through the desert by the presence of God. That’s immediately what came to my mind as I drove north yesterday on the final leg of my journey to school.
Truly, there must be a lesson there.
Truly, God uses all parts of His creation to teach us.
Truly, we do not ever need to miss God’s lesson, but do not believe me; believe God’s Word.
When God promised Abram that his reward would “be very great,” Abram had some questions to ask God.
Abram & Sarai were given a promise, and then when impatience set in, they did something that seems quite unthinkable. However, we should not judge because we too may be impatient souls (or maybe it’s just me who wears the cloak of impatience) whenever life and events and drivers on the roadways and the “whatevers” in this life” seem to slow us down on our paths.
After Abram and Sarai took matters into their own hands, there was a time when Sarai’s Egyptian maid was comforted by the angel of the LORD there by the spring of water. When the truth came to Sarai, her anger toward Hagar caused young Hagar to flee into the wilderness, all the way to Shur (Genesis 16).
It was there (in her distress) that the angel of the LORD said to Hagar,
“Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?”
(Genesis 16: 8-10 & 13)
And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority.”
Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” . . .
Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees.” . . .
There is so much to apply—How our impatience only leads to struggles.
- God comforts & provides.
- God oftentimes has us turn from the way we are going, get up, and return.
- God blesses and sustains.
- God expects us to obey, even if that means—to wait for a long, long time.
- God SEES Us—Both where we are coming from and where we are going.
- God—Was & Is & Will forever be—“a God who sees” (Genesis 16:14).
- God goes with us throughout every moment of our lives—just as the moon hangs in the west while the sun rises in the east.
- God is there; God is here; & God is surely everywhere.
Let us be patient & Let us wait upon our LORD.
“As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the LORD.
(James 5:10-11)
We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the LORD’S dealings, that the LORD is full of compassion and is merciful.”