As time goes by I am more and more surprised (although I really shouldn’t be) that God continues to teach me the same lessons over and over. A large part of this is due to my own sinful humanity. The Holy Spirit graciously reveals truth to me, convicts me of wrongdoing, and encourages growth in my walk, and I think, “Yes! Thank you for teaching me this! I’m so glad I have learned this!” But as time passes, I become less and less purposeful in my devotion to retaining as well as implementing what I’ve been taught as Paul exhorts me to do.
2 Timothy 3:14 - “. . . continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed. . .”
I’m easily distracted from staying on course, and if I am being completely honest, deep down in my heart I foolishly tell myself, “God’s already taught me that. I don’t need to worry about it anymore.” Once and done. Oh, if only.
So it is with waiting. I don’t like it. Actually, I hate waiting. And I really shouldn’t, because I’m finding that it is through waiting that God refines me, teaches me, encourages me, prepares me, etc. I often think of waiting as dead time. But with God, nothing could be farther from the truth. For Him, waiting is active — it is overflowing with purpose and industry.
We are all always waiting. I look back and see how every stage and phase of life so far is simply a time of waiting. Waiting to get my drivers license. Waiting to turn 18 and graduate high school. Waiting to finish college and figure out what & where I would be. Waiting to see if God would fulfill my desire to find a mate. Waiting to be married (5 months never seemed so long). Waiting to see when is God’s timing for us to start a family. It just goes on and on. Waiting . . .
As God has brought me into a new season of waiting, the easy assumption is that He is simply trying to teach me patience. And while this is partly true, I am finding that one of the greater lessons He is seeking to teach and grow in me (yet again) is meekness.
Meekness has the idea of being gentle, humble, and submissive. Meekness recognizes that it has much to learn and sees waiting times as an opportunity to be taught and to grow. This is why James tells us to “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word” (James 1:21). Without a meek spirit, I am prone to respond to times of waiting in sin because I fail to see my need to learn. I don’t know everything. In fact, I am in desperate need to be continuously taught and challenged. And when I am meek, I will be slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19) which helps me to be all the more open to correction.
Meekness also eagerly casts its reliance and dependence on our sovereign Lord. It understands and trusts that His ways are best.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Romans 11:33b “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
When I am meek, I don’t compare what God is doing in my life to what He is doing in another’s. I’m content with knowing His purposes for me are good and His timing is perfect. I trust and place my full dependence on His wisdom and care.
John Piper writes, “Meekness begins when we put our trust in God. Then, because we trust Him, we commit our way to Him. We roll onto Him our anxieties, our frustrations, our plans, our relationships, our jobs, our health. And then we patiently wait for the Lord, We trust His timing and his power and grace to work things out in the best way for His glory and for our good.”
At its core, meekness takes its eyes off of self and makes God the center. Waiting becomes burdensome and frustrating when I am focusing on me — how I feel, what I think should be done, how difficult this is for me, how long is this going to take, etc. Conversely, meekness readily acknowledges it neediness . . . for teaching, for correction, for growth, and for Christ.
I need this time of waiting. And one of the most encouraging things about waiting times as a believer is that it is productive, not pointless. For every one thing I can see God doing in my life, I am confident there are many, many more things He is doing that I cannot see. There are no such things as dead time, fluff, and busy work with God. It all has meaning. It all has purpose.
Missionary Jim Elliot once said, “Wherever you are, be all there.” With the help of the Holy Spirit, I am seeking to do just that. To be all here in this time of waiting, learning, trusting, and resting in Him. I covet your prayers as I pursue meekness to His glory!
Elisabeth
Whate’er My God Ordains Is Right
Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er he doth;
And follow where he guideth.
He is my God: though dark my road.
He holds me that I shall not fall.
And so to him I leave it all,
He holds me that I shall not fall.
Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me.
He leads me by the proper path;
I know he will not leave me.
I take, content, what he hath sent.
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait his day,
His hand can turn my griefs away.
Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all, unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew.
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart,
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart.
Whate’er my God ordains is right.
Here shall my stand be taken.
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet am I not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there.
He holds me that I shall not fall,
And so to him I leave it all,
He holds me that I shall not fall.
- S. Rodigast
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