deeda-zoomlens: The waiting game. Sometimes it's hard, right? ...

deeda-zoomlens: The waiting game.

   Sometimes it's hard, right? ...: The waiting game.    Sometimes it's hard, right? We know we should 'wait upon the Lord' and we do try to be patient, but every...

Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed. We hustle. We bustle. It is in our nature: Change, go, do, renew. The seasons move. We move. We seek always — variety. Why? Is the sky not blue enough? Is there too much sun on a July day? Are the full leaves of August simply calling cards for autumnal shades and the hazy gold of late afternoon September fairs and rolls of hay, just to be enjoyed long enough for the foggy mornings of October and then the red berries and green leaves shining on November’s darkening days? Just to seek and find the berries and wreaths of Christmas and December, and then in January the powdering of snow that becomes blue ice days of February and the blustery kite winds of March? In March, before April and Easter change the face of the world and spring sets in with lilies and daffodils — readying the world for May bonnets that float lazily in reflections off straw hats and piers in the mirrored waters of June? We circle the sun in our searching for perfection, our love of each jot and title of life’s expressions. Looking for the face of God, we stumble in love with the wrinkles of time. What is behind our yearning? Our change of palates and furniture, of hairstyles, of music, and sometimes even of friends and churches? The bible says: Ecc 3 There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: ‘2-8 A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.’ After those well loved verses and for a long, long, long time the Quester broods over the smoke and dust, the worthlessness of life, the endless change that leads to nothing until finally this thought hits him: 18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.’ Then again comes his melancholia: Ecc 6 1-2 I looked long and hard at what goes on around here, and let me tell you, things are bad. And people feel it. There are people, for instance, on whom God showers everything—money, property, reputation—all they ever wanted or dreamed of. And then God doesn’t let them enjoy it. Some stranger comes along and has all the fun. It’s more of what I’m calling smoke. A bad business. 3-5 Say a couple have scores of children and live a long, long life but never enjoy themselves—even though they end up with a big funeral! I’d say that a stillborn baby gets the better deal. It gets its start in a mist and ends up in the dark—unnamed. It sees nothing and knows nothing, but is better off by far than anyone living. 6 Even if someone lived a thousand years—make it two thousand!—but didn’t enjoy anything, what’s the point? Doesn’t everyone end up in the same place?’ Fortunately he hits on insight but he does not quite see his own focus or pinpoint what he is seeing when he says, 7′ We work to feed our appetites; Meanwhile our souls go hungry.’ Over and over his sad tale comes back to this: ‘All it amounts to anyway is smoke. And spitting into the wind.’ He meanders, changes with the mood and the wind until he comes across a few more thoughts worth keeping: ’13 Take a good look at God’s work. Who could simplify and reduce Creation’s curves and angles To a plain straight line? 14 On a good day, enjoy yourself; On a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days So that we won’t take anything for granted.’ Then from in-between comes the motivation for his wanderings, his hithers and thithers, his going up and under– the ins and outs — looking for meaning inside the meaning, looking for changelessness — looking for God. his anguished search, his pain explodes here: ’23-25 I tested everything in my search for wisdom. I set out to be wise, but it was beyond me, far beyond me, and deep—oh so deep! Does anyone ever find it? I concentrated with all my might, studying and exploring and seeking wisdom—the meaning of life. I also wanted to identify evil and stupidity, foolishness and craziness … what I, the Quester, have pieced together as I’ve tried to make sense of life. But the wisdom I’ve looked for I haven’t found. I didn’t find one man or woman in a thousand worth my while. Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we’re the ones who’ve made a mess of things.’ After many wise sayings and some silly surface thoughts, our seeker ends his wonderings, his wanderings of the heart, in this way: ‘ 9-10 Besides being wise himself, the Quester also taught others knowledge. He weighed, examined, and arranged many proverbs. The Quester did his best to find the right words and write the plain truth. 11 The words of the wise prod us to live well. They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together. They are given by God, the one Shepherd. 12-13 But regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you’re no good for anything else. The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. 14 And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.’ Before Adam and Eve by their desires and pride brought time into our world, everything was the moment –and the moment was not– and was all — regardless of anything called time or change. God’s children, His creations, were with the Trinity. After Eden, dropped into time — into birth and death, we seek our home that is heavenward — a beauty and completion that is now changeable to us –set away from, beyond anything that we can imagine. So we seek greener pastures, we seek better lives, we seek brighter days, we seek inside all the aspects of everything, looking for the whole and never able to conceive it. Until we leave this splintering of perfection and see it for shattered desires, pieces of the whole pulled into different and often time slanted directions, we discover, live through, dodge, try to understand and even hunt — change. To go inside change is to leave linear time –cataclysmic. It requires the faith of a caterpillar becoming the butterfly, not seeing itself as the glorification happens, but being inside it — becoming. The bible says: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” [1 Corinthians 15:51-42] “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [Romans 12:2] “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” [1 John 3:2] Eventually our change natures, our butterfly selves, longing to see home again and the face of our God will find this: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” [Revelation 21:1] “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” [2 Corinthians 3:18] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows James 1:17 1 Peter 1:3 Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 [Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay[imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you 13 So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed. Cherish the moment. Cherish the prayer: It is the closest soul-breath we have this side of forever — this side of home again our blessed Lord, the glorious I Am That I Am.

The waiting game.

   Sometimes it's hard, right? We know we should 'wait upon the Lord' and we do try to be patient, but everything in the world seems to whirl at us with warp speed.

    We push. We press. We figure this way and that. We go up one road and down the other, only to find ourselves in deeper trouble or at least very unknown territory, many times with heretofore unknown people who have become problems instead of helping to solve them.

    Part of us says, 'To be a good steward we have to do our best to help ourselves.' Another part of ourselves says, 'Listen to that bit about the lilies in the field.' What to do? Where is the balance point?

     Sometimes when we look back on situations we can see that if 1 and 2 had not happened exactly the way they did, then that coveted 3 would not have been the same outcome. We would never have known that that the first instance would have occasioned the second one, but there it was and then that life lesson or life completion became smooth and 'right.'

    Other times we look back and see spaghetti -- a rolling ball of half measures and long strings all piled up together with no rhyme or reason apparent and nothing holding any of it together except a unifying sauce on top -- just a surface coating that does not really bind for long. Maybe we are not far enough away from that instance to see how the pieces fit, or maybe we tried so hard that we blew it and whatever that outcome might have been is taking a completely different route -- perhaps to a similar end, perhaps not.

     As I sit here on the edge of decisions myself, let me remind all of us that we only need one roadmap; the bible tells us many things:

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them.Mark 4:9
Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."Exodus 4:11Psalm 94:9
Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?
The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
Proverbs 25:12
Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.

Matthew 7:7-12(AMP)

7 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; [c]keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone?

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?

11 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and [d]advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and [e]advantageous things to those who [f]keep on asking Him!

12 So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets.

Isaiah 55:8-9(AMP)

8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Brothers and sisters, '

Isaiah 40:31(KJV)

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

'

Patience is

The word patience in the Hebrew is “qavah” which means “to wait for, to look for, to hope, or to expect.”  All of these words in themselves are very descriptive of patience.   In the Greek, it is used most often as “hypomenō” which means “to remain, to abide, to preserver, endure, or to bear bravely and calmly.”  Again, these words fit nicely with the word patience and so if we see what the word patience could mean throughout the Bible, we could say that, biblically speaking, patience is:  waiting for, looking and hoping for, expecting, persevering, enduring, bearing, remaining and abiding.   If you see how God is patient, particularly with us, you can see that He is the epitome of patience.' http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/

'

Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.”

The idea of being “still before the Lord” to “wait patiently for Him” is a command in this Psalm.  Here we are seeing the patience when we regard the one who is prospering and “carries out evil” meaning that we must bear this and remain steadfast for all will stand before the Lord to give an account someday (Rev 20:11-15) and it will not go well with those who have not trusted in Christ. This is what we are “waiting for, looking for, and expecting.”  God is just and as a just Judge, all will be made right. We must leave judgment to God and be patient and not allow our impatience to get the best of us vengeance is the Lords (Rom 12:19).

James 5:7-8 “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Once again we are told to be patient “until the coming of the Lord” because even a farmer must be patient and not seeing the unseen seed the farmer knows that its time will come and so he or she is patient in this sense.   The patience James talks about is the patience to be waiting, expectantly, on the Lord’s coming, which James emphasizes twice and every time you see something mentioned twice, God wants us to see its importance.

Revelation 14:12 “Here is a call for the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”

Even when you are persecuted, we should rejoice (Matt 5:12) because they persecuted Jesus, even to death, so don’t grow weary in doing good (Gal 6:9) because “at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” and not giving up is enduring patiently.  In Revelation 14:12 John is writing that the patience of the saints is equal to that of keeping the commandments of God and their faith in Christ.  Obedience is not easy and we can’t keep them  perfectly but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to obey them and it takes patience with ourselves and with others.

Romans 15:4-5 “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus.”

Here Paul ties in patience with reading the Scriptures that we “might have hope” and a lack of patience could be a lack of being in the Scriptures.  I don’t know how often I have counseled with someone about their quick temper and I ask them, did they begin the day with the Scriptures and with prayer?  Are those an everyday thing for you as Jesus said we must ask for our daily bread, each and every day?  The Scriptures have the power to change our attitudes and the “washing of the word” (Eph 5:26) is part of our sanctification.

Romans 2:6 “He will render to each one according to his works:  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”

Every Christian today will be rewarded for their works on earth.  We are not saved by works but a faith that saves works.  Good works are a natural byproduct of our faith.  The patience in well-doing must be understood that the glory, honor, and immortality will not come until He returns with His reward for us.  We may not be rewarded as much in this life, although obedience frequently produces better consequences, but patience is more easily retained when we live with the end in mind.

Proverbs 25:15 “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”

When I read this I thought of the employee in dealing with their employer who through patience might be persuaded.  Solomon writes this in conjunction with using a “soft tongue” so the idea is that with patience, a soft voice and gentle words, someone can more easily be persuaded to make a decision or a choice that you want them to make.  It’s interesting that the author said that “a soft tongue will break a bone” but we could read it in the Hebrew vernacular as being “a soft voice can break a bone” or with gentleness and respect, even a strong bone (hard headed person or a difficult decision?) can be persuaded but only if accompanied by patience..that is, sometimes it takes a lot of time.

First Thessalonians 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

This last verse is particularly special to me because after we admonish the idle (lazy?), encourage the fainthearted (fearful?) and help the weak (in the faith and the elderly?) Paul tells us to do these things patiently.   I have never failed to gain understanding from an elderly person who may take longer saying something but it is worth the wait.  I visit nursing homes and they frequently speak a little slower but like gold is formed over longer amounts of time, these nuggets from these seniors are so valuable because experience is a good teacher and they have a lot to tell.  Also, for those who are fearful, have doubts about their salvation, and may lack assurance, it may be because they are new in the faith and it takes time to grow in the faith so patience is not only a virtue, it is a necessity with the very young or new believer and with those who are our elders.' (Jack Wellman)