Today’s Reading: Isaiah 31–35, Psalm 102
But Lord, be merciful to us,
for we have waited for you.
Be our strong arm each day
and our salvation in times of trouble.
The enemy runs at the sound of your voice.
When you stand up, the nations flee! – Isaiah 33:2-3
At times God’s plan for me may include adversity to teach me or guide me. Sometimes the adversity is the result of my own mistakes, but thankfully He doesn’t leave me to experience my consequences alone. He doesn’t abandon me in my TIME IN BETWEEN. He stays with me and is my teacher. I hear His voice, “This is the way you should go.”
DURING HARD TIMES, I CAN REST IN HIM.
Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter – like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds HE gave them. – Isaiah 30:23-26
And so, in the time in between, I can wait. I can trust and rest in the knowledge that God is good and that God is present and that God is coming!
DURING THE TIME IN BETWEEN, I CAN WAIT ON HIM.
Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord!
Make it a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!
Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken!”
A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?”
“Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people.
The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” – Isaiah 40:3-8
DURING THE WAITING, I CAN SAY WHAT HE TELLS ME TO SAY.
I can wait on God knowing that He is coming! He is my deliverer and my Lord, in whom I trust and for whom I wait. Anything else I could reach out to or cling to will fade away because nothing else is eternal. The word of my God stands forever and He is coming! So when He says to speak, I will speak; when He says to be still, I will watch and wait.
Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. – Isaiah 40:10-11
The Lord is coming. And so, like Mary, we watch and we wait. We watch, knowing God is aware and has a plan. We wait, knowing God’s timing is always perfect.
DURING THE WAITING, I CAN TRUST IN GOD’S PERFECT TIMING.
Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching. – Matthew 27:59-61
O my God, who lives forever, we call on you this morning. We recognize that you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. Knowing this, we put our trust in you for everything going on in our lives. You remain forever; you have always been and will always be [Psalm 102]. On you we wait, trusting you to move in your perfect time and in your perfect way.
Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth,
and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it. – Isaiah 32:1-3