Isaiah 30:18: Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
The other day I heard a radio commercial about how far we have technologically advanced in just the past 10 years. Ten years ago if you had e-mail and the internet, you had to wait a considerable amount of time for the dial-up service connection. Ten years ago texting didn't exist. Ten years ago there were no USB ports. And the list went on and on.
The faster the pace of our world, technology, drive-thru meals, and all modern conveniences, the harder it is for us to learn the key to waiting. For the past six months I have felt like God has had me in a holding pattern, of sorts. My emotions have gone from anticipation to frustration. I have felt like God has been grooming me for something yet to come, but I haven't been privy to the knowledge of what God is really doing in my life.
Waiting is not an easy task. However, I am praying that I will continue to learn the secret of being content, no matter how long the wait. Psalm 130:5 says, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I put my hope."
I think I finally understand one of the concepts of waiting. It is in the ACT of waiting that God IS doing his amazing work. The answers to prayer don't always come at the end of the wait. Many of them come IN the wait. It is when we ARE waiting that we learn to trust God fully. It is during this time of waiting that God shows himself to be our provider, sustainer, and he is enough. It isn't the answer at the end of the wait that is the end of our problem. That is simply another of God's blessings on us. The REAL blessing is gained in the day-to-day grind of the holding patterns of our lives when God shows up in the mundane things to prove himself. He is really all we need. We don't need that thing for which he is grooming us. We just need him.
Psalm 40:1-3 says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."
Cheralea Purcell
Feb 10, 2010
Feb 9, 2010
Prepare the Way
As I approach Lent I know that I want to experience God in a new way, a fresh way, a significant way. And what I want for myself, I want for my family, and my church friends and family. So I am thinking about preparing the way for God to visit me in a new way. Part of this week’s text is:
1Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
2In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God said,
“Look, I am sending my messenger before you,
and he will prepare your way.
3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness:
‘Prepare a pathway for the Lord’s coming!
Make a straight road for him!’”
4This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and was preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 5People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea traveled out into the wilderness to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. 6His clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. 7He announced: “Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am—so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!” Mark 1:1-8 NLT
Here’s what I need to do to prepare the way: First, drink coffee! I’m not going to lie to you and say that it’s in the original Greek of the text. It’s just that at 5:15 in the morning when I get up, I think coffee helps me “prepare the way.” Whatever puts you in the right frame of mind and heart—and it will be different for different people—I’d say go for it. As one of my elderly and wise parishioners used to say, “If it worketh, doeth it!” BTW—she’s drinking her coffee with Jesus in heaven now.
But the second and harder thing I see in preparing the way is the life-style of John the Baptizer. He lived a simple life stripped down to the essentials. I mean come on; locusts and wild honey? But he also called the people to come to him to hear the word of the Lord and to experience the new movement of God. Out of town, out of the usual, out into the desert was part of the preparation.
For me it is going to mean less TV, less news on my computer, less time in the usual stuff of my life. I’m not sure I like it, but I think it’s worth it. How about you? What do you think it will look like for you to “prepare the way of the Lord?”
Pastor Ken Lightcap
1Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
2In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God said,
“Look, I am sending my messenger before you,
and he will prepare your way.
3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness:
‘Prepare a pathway for the Lord’s coming!
Make a straight road for him!’”
4This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and was preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 5People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea traveled out into the wilderness to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. 6His clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. 7He announced: “Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am—so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!” Mark 1:1-8 NLT
Here’s what I need to do to prepare the way: First, drink coffee! I’m not going to lie to you and say that it’s in the original Greek of the text. It’s just that at 5:15 in the morning when I get up, I think coffee helps me “prepare the way.” Whatever puts you in the right frame of mind and heart—and it will be different for different people—I’d say go for it. As one of my elderly and wise parishioners used to say, “If it worketh, doeth it!” BTW—she’s drinking her coffee with Jesus in heaven now.
But the second and harder thing I see in preparing the way is the life-style of John the Baptizer. He lived a simple life stripped down to the essentials. I mean come on; locusts and wild honey? But he also called the people to come to him to hear the word of the Lord and to experience the new movement of God. Out of town, out of the usual, out into the desert was part of the preparation.
For me it is going to mean less TV, less news on my computer, less time in the usual stuff of my life. I’m not sure I like it, but I think it’s worth it. How about you? What do you think it will look like for you to “prepare the way of the Lord?”
Pastor Ken Lightcap
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