Isa 40:28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak nor weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the weary; and to him with no vigor; He increases strength. Even the young shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but those who wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
1-29-2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Have you ever wondered what that means to “wait on the Lord?” As the saying goes, God always answers prayers one of 3 ways, yes, no, or wait. When He says wait what does that mean? I looked up the Hebrew word used for wait here in this verse and the definition I found was. “To wait entails confident expectation and active hope in the Lord, never passive resignation in the situation, the expectation by God’s people that the Lord will intervene on their behalf, the working out of hope.”
The other day I was reading a book by Amy Carmicheal called “I come quietly to meet you”. It’s a devotional book, journal entries of Amy’s intimate journey of trust in her trials. Anyhow, I came across this one entry. It talks of how she once was unafraid of anything, standing fast, trusting in the Lord completely. He had always heard her instant the storm broke out and at once delivered her. She had been amazed by His love, and shared of His Goodness! As I read I thought that was me I’d never doubted because I’d always seen Him save the day. But what if were not answered yes, but wait? Is that trust still the sure? I had stopped reading by now and was pondering all of that. No, my faith or trust hasn’t wavered, but am I dancing in the rain with my Savior knowing He will always do what’s perfect for me, no worries? I looked back to the pages and the next line was, but now… It talks about how she now finds herself alone, isolated, looking into a mist. She couldn’t see the path ahead and the uncertainty was harder to bear than any physical pain had ever been. She goes on to explain how the enemy and her flesh fought against the Spirit, voices stealing her courage, God restoring her. God reminding her He was there, her strength, He knew where she was, and where He was leading her. He would lead perfectly.
When our inner struggle ceases we’re able to see Him in the mist and know He will make good on His promises and we have no reason to fret and are able to sing. I realized she finally came to a point of waiting on the Lord, of course she was forced to wait before but now she was spiritually waiting on Him. I related so perfectly, I could’ve written the journal entry. Instead of just rushing in and saving the day, God has chosen, this time to give us precious promises to hold on to and ask us to wait on Him.
Ps. 37:7 says, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of men who bring to pass wicked schemes.” Ps. 46:10 says, “Be still (cease from striving or fretting) and know that I am God.” Is. 49:23 says “They will not be ashamed who wait on Me.” Is.6:4 says, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard or perceived by the ear nor has the eye seen any God besides you who acts for the One who waits for Him.” Zeph.3:8 “Therefore wait for Me says the Lord” and Is. 60:9 says “surely the coastlands will wait for me.”
These verses mentioned are some phrases in the promises He’s given me where He asks us to wait. So I asked the Lord to give me a picture of what that means to wait like He wants, not because there’s no choice, but to please Him in waiting. He brought to mind my grandmothers (Nena) fudge, a very special family tradition. Nena’s fudge is saved for special days like Christmas or at times to soothe a hurting heart. When making fudge the timing is very important and if you hurry it will all be ruined. I remember many times waiting as Nena stirred the fudge on the stove until the perfect time. And even as an adult when I was the one trying to make fudge getting impatient and ruining the whole batch. As a child I knew Nena knew the perfect time to take the fudge off of the stove so I wasn’t afraid she would burn it. I trusted she not only would make it perfectly but also would make sure I not only got to eat it but got to lick the pan, once it cooled.
The recipe for fudge calls for unsweetened chocolate and vanilla. Have you ever tried either of these, alone? I did, Yuck! I thought if it was in Nena’s fudge which is wonderful, it had to taste good. I took a bite of the chocolate and a spoon of vanilla, both were spit out. On their own they were disgusting but in the fudge they were good. Even after trying these ingredients I never questioned Nena putting them in the fudge. I had complete trust in Nena to make perfect fudge. I had complete trust in Nena to make perfect fudge. I was willing to trust her to decide the ingredients, and to wait on her to stir it “forever” on the stove and even more after the stove. At times it was hard to wait because my expectancy was so high but never did I loose trust it would be perfect.
Oh, how I wish we always had that trust in the Lord with the fudge He’s promises in our lives! We tend to question His care, or even the promise itself if we don’t get it immediately we think He’s gonna leave it on the fire too long and it will be burnt, or maybe He’ll give it to someone else. And when He allows ingredients to be put in our lives that don’t taste good, UH OH, we’re sure He’s letting the enemy ruin it. We begin to fret and worry, will we ever get what He’s promises? Will it be ruined? We look at the chocolate and vanilla on the hot stove and refuse to smell the wonderful fudge coming soon and rejoice. Instead we think that it looks bad and is taking forever. How sweet to smell the fudge. It smells amazing long before it can be eaten and your mouth begins to water, in expectancy. When we wait on the Lord like I waited on Nena’s fudge, completely trusting in His goodness and faithfulness, we can smell the aroma of His amazing love. We are confident that He will do as He said and that even ingredients that taste awful were never a surprise to Him. No one snuck anything in on Him, they are all part of His perfect plan for our good and His glory.
I’m not saying God likes the baking chocolate in our lives but that when Satan thinks he’s doing something meant for evil, God has only allowed that ingredient because He knows it’s needed to make the fudge perfect. He’s never not in control or good, always faithful.
In the 1st scripture I shared in Isaiah it says, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength”. In Isaiah 30:15 it says, “For thus sayeth the Lord God the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest you shall be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” If we are not resting in His promises (being still, not fretting, confident expectation, active hope, never passive resignation) how can He supply us with the strength we need. His word says we will grow weary but as we wait on Him He’ll renew our strength. We can wait not by force but, smelling the fudge, expecting the promise and watching Him work in and through us in the meantime. Micah 7:7, “Therefore I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.” In that time of waiting God has awesome opportunities to work. I can’t begin to explain how honored and amazed I am to sit back and see all He’s doing through this time of waiting.
When I sat down to try to work out the logistics of the next Bible study I wrote on the top. “The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few” God is touching so many lives and drawing people to Him. We’re praying for Him to provide for all of these new believers to be discipled and those still searching to see the truth. We are kept very busy with Bible study. At this time there are 4 in the dorm who are committed to help those younger in the Lord doing Bible study in small groups. There are 20 who will be doing “ The God Of All Comfort” a study on the book of 2nd Corinthians and 21 will be doing a basic “One to One Discipleship” study. Also for those who are helping to disciple we’re going through a book called “ Counseling God’s Way” So keep us in your prayers, as we are busy with all the Lord has entrusted us to do while we wait. Pray we correctly divide the word of God and shepherd the flock.
Continue to pray for me and my family, for peace and comfort as we wait on the Lord. Pray for wisdom and discernment and provision. My family is doing good. The kids are enjoying their homeschooling and learning a lot. Larry is active in ministry and also has a new employee, for our business. Emma, my baby, turned 3 on the 22nd. That was hard because she’s not a baby anymore. Thank God, I did get to call her and tell her happy birthday and sing to her, and tell her I love her. God has continued to provide above and beyond, people to love on and help care for my family while I’m away (a state supported missionary)
My case is in Austin; we’re waiting on a decision whether they will look into the injustice of the case or pass it on to the next court.
Our hope is not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. It may be tomorrow He decides to bring me home but whenever it is it will be His perfect time, as we wait we can smell the fudge.
Ps.62:1-2 “My soul silently waits for god, from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense I shall not be greatly moved.”
In His Hands,
Hannah
Letters from Hannah
