The struggles of my heart and what I'm having trouble waiting patiently for are not important enough to blog about; what is important, however, is focusing on patience itself and why the Lord sometimes asks us to wait on Him as He works behind the scenes to bring about His sovereign plans for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 is just one of so many promises that God makes to us concerning our lives and the good things that He has planned for His children. Though my heart is impatient and sometimes downcast while fighting to wait patiently for the Lord's timing, God's promises are still true. "God's promises are like starts - the darker the night, the brighter they shine," David Nicholas.
Elizabeth Elliot has much to say about waiting on the Lord's timing in her book Passion and Purity. She urges Christians to take captive their thoughts and to choose to trust God instead of our own emotions. She writes that "obedience involves for us not physical suffering, perhaps, nor social ostracism as it has for some, but this warring with [emotions], this bringing into captivity our thoughts. We have planted the banner, in our integrity, of our trust in God. The consequences are His responsibility." My favorite excerpt from her book is a precious illustration about an acorn and an oak tree. It's an excerpt I've read many times and find very comforting when I catch myself asking the Lord a million questions as I wait for His answers to my prayers...
"God's plan for you is so far beyond your imaginings,
as the oak tree is far from the acorn's imaginings. The acorn does
what it was made to do, without pestering its Maker with questions
about when and how and why. We who have been given an intelligence
and a will and a whole range of wants that can be set against the Divine "pattern for good"
are asked to BELIEVE Him.We are given the chance to trust Him when
He saysto us... "If any man will let himself be lost for My sake, he will
find his true self." When will we find it, we ask; the answer is, "trust Me."
How will we find it, we ask; the answer again is, "trust Me."
Why must I let myself be lost, we persist; the answer is,
"Look at the acorn, and trust Me."
He who has promised is faithful and He will accomplish His purposes for His children (Hebrews 10:23). I have learned recently that our emotions are not truth; His promises and His word are. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things...who can understand it?" My bible study leader pointed out once that our emotions are some of the strongest tools in the enemie's toolbox. We must learn to be content whatever our circumstances are, even and especially when we battle impatience as we wait on His divine timing. My future is as bright as God's promises are. He has designed each of us for a purpose; He knew the plans designed for us before we were born, even as we were being knit together in our mother's womb. It is the Lord who discerns my coming and my going (Psalm 121:8). And thank Him that He does, indeed! As Bebo Norman sings, I have resolved that I am much better off in His hands than mine...
John Piper once preached, "When it looks like He is buried for good, Jesus is doing something awesome in the dark. He often works in dark places." I believe that He so often works quietly because He wants to teach us to walk by faith. He wants us to learn to trust completely in Him, to leave the orchestrating of the details of our lives to Him. A Ronald Dunn quote I found in my church bulletin a few Sundays ago read, "We learn to trust by TRUSTING." As I struggle with having patience and learning to be content in all situations, I choose to lean on the many promises of our great God in His word... "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus," Philippians 4:19. "For I know Whom I have believed," 2 Timothy 1:12. "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith...let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful..." Hebrews 10:22-23.
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