Waiting (and waiting... and waiting...)

Isaiah 30:18

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!

1 Corinthians 1:8-9

⁸He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Who enjoys a nice, long wait? You're starving, it's dinner time, and you've gone to your favorite restaurant. You approach the host and she tells you, "It'll be about an hour wait." Your alarm didn't go off, you're already 15 minutes behind schedule, you pull onto the interstate and... traffic jam! Nobody enjoys waiting (well, I guess I shouldn't generalize; there are weirdos out there, but you get my drift). Lord knows, I have done my fair share!

I just started working again after being unemployed since December. Because of my not earning wages, I had to endure without internet as well. (Oh, the horror!) This blog is coming to you now because that long wait is over! Praise the Lord!

Waiting isn't always a bad thing, though. Waiting through a tough time while trusting in God can have a rewarding outcome. Romans 5 says, "we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."Amen!

I've never had much patience. Often if I know I can't finish a task as quickly as in one setting, I won't start it. I get irritated easily in traffic (but my new commute is teaching me a few things!). However, patience is indeed a virtue. Not throw around cliches willy-nilly, but many cliches become cliches because they are true. Furthermore, as Christians, we are called to be patient. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." (Colossians 3:12)

Sometimes, the waiting makes things even better. Food almost always tastes better when you're starving. A pool is more refreshing when you've spent long hours in the sweltering heat. And there is no greater feeling of accomplishment than when you've worked long and hard on something and you succeed. I just want to encourage those who are having a hard time with being patient to stick it out. The end result is worth it! God isn't in the habit of letting His children down.

Mirror

Psalm 19:13-14

13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.

14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

It occurred to me today during my worship leading class just how much of human behavior is reactionary and based on emotions or personal preferences. We were discussing the different worship movements in the church starting with traditional and how contemporary was a reaction to that, and now emerging worship is a reaction to contemporary, etc. I then made the distinction that all of these "worship movements" are based on our personal preferences, which in a faith that touts Jesus as the One we serve (not the other way around) seems kind of hypocritical, or somewhat pointless at the least.

The same can be said of our every day behavior. How often does someone say something that angers you, and before you know it, you throw back a particularly nasty barb to hurt them back? I know I do this all the time, or at least I used to. It's a habit I'm trying to get out of. When we act from a purely reactionary standpoint, we're only thinking of ourselves. If we could take a step back and evaluate the situation; God forbid, even try to see where the other person is coming from, we might be able to avoid some heavy conflict. How often as Christians do we let our pride get in the way? Maybe not in our relationship with God, but certainly with other believers. This isn't new: after all, Paul reprimanded the Corinthian believers for this quarreling (1 Cor. 3:2-4). If we truly love our brothers and sisters, wouldn't we try to interact with them using grace and mercy? Sounds like common sense, right?

But obviously it's not, if the church is so divided. How many different denominations are there? I don't know them all! And beyond that, there are sub-denominations- we argue about the right way to do this or the right way to do that. Can you imagine what the Father does when He watches us fight? I think maybe He might just hang His head in exasperation wondering when we'll learn. As the saying goes, Jesus is coming back one day, and He's coming back for a Bride, not a harem.

James 3:8 says no one can tame the tongue, and I've seen this to be true in many cases. But as believers, we're called to a higher standard. This means taking into account everything we say, even when we're joking with our friends. Because things said more than once develop into a pattern and a pattern can become a habit, and habits are hard to break. Then one day you find yourself saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and completely crushing his or her spirit. I guess what I'm trying to say is we all need to keep ourselves in check. Are the meditations of our hearts really pleasing to God? Isn't He the only One who matters anyway?

There's a song by Rebecca St. James called "Mirror" in which she says, "may the words of my mouth please You, dear God... take me, make me an image of You. Lord, I want to mirror You." What do you see when you look in the mirror?

God is my drug

Psalm 4:7
"You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound."

Addictions. We all have them. Some go to alcohol, some to sex, some to drugs, some to food. There are millions of things this world (and the enemy) has contrived to take us away from our first love. I love the old commercials that would show a teenager doing something he or she loved and would say "such and such is my anti-drug." I used to think God was my anti-drug. That my faith and my love for Jesus would keep me from doing the things that the "dregs of society" fall into. If this were true for all Christians, though, why do so many believers have the same addictions as the unsaved?

Anything can become a drug. In my opinion, obsession and addiction go hand in hand. Just as anything can become an idol if you let get in the way of your relationship with God, that same thing can become a drug if you let yourself become too dependent on it. In this light, even another person can be your drug. Dictionary.com defines addiction as "the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming... to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma." When someone is addicted to something, trying to leave that addiction causes withdrawal. Withdrawal is defined as "Discontinuation of the use of an addictive substance. The physiological and mental readjustment that accompanies such discontinuation." Withdrawal can be painful for addicts; they begin to crave their drug again and many times go back to using.

If you find yourself (as we all do) struggling with an addiction of any kind, instead of letting God be your anti-drug, why not let Him be your drug? I want to be addicted to God. I want to go through withdrawal when I don't spend time with Him. I want to need Him so badly to survive, to not be able to go a day without my "fix." It may seem unconventional, but Jesus wants every piece of us. If there's any empty space in us we're trying to fill with something else, He wants to fill it. God doesn't just want some, He wants all. So if you're going to be addicted to something, why can't it be God? The Skillet song "Better Than Drugs" says it this way,

"You're better than drugs
Your love is like wine
Feel you comin' on so fast
Feel you comin' on to get me high
You're better than drugs
Addicted for life..."

Further reading: 1 Corinthians 10 (this whole chapter is amazing!)