Waiting isn’t most people’s favorite activity.  As a matter of fact, I hate waiting.  I will take alternate routes to avoid waiting at stoplights or being stuck in traffic.  I will treat the checkout lanes like a NASCAR event in which I–like so many others–rapidly scan all the lanes to assess which has the shortest line and develop a quick algorithm to determine which clerk is the fastest and whose items are the smallest quantity.  Then, to make matters worse, I get in a lane and second-guess myself as I watch my competitors achieve checkout status sooner than I do.  Waiting is something that seems to be a waste of time.

Waiting upon the LORD is different.  That’s because the results aren’t up to people.  The results are up to God.  When we wait upon people, we encounter price checks and coupons and no UPC codes.  When we wait upon God, we wait upon One whose timing is always perfect.  What seems to us as a delay is actually the parenthesis in which God continues His work unseen to us.  While He continues to work, He tells us that we will regain our strength.  We will be renewed, refreshed, and recharged.  Frankly, the battle many of us face on a daily basis is beyond our ability to endure.  But when we wait upon the LORD, He fights the battle because these spiritual battles are His to fight.  Yet, there are useful activities we can do during the parenthesis of God’s solo effort which will refresh us until we can rejoin Him in the work He is doing.  We can worship God in song, read Scripture, pray, or engage in other spiritual disciplines such as fasting while we wait upon Him.   He needs no parenthesis of refreshment because He is God.  Our humanity makes us frail but a testimony to God’s love and grace is that He refreshes us when we wait upon Him.

I don’t know about you, but it seems there are times in my life when it rains and it pours and it rains some more.  While it is tempting to sink into depression, it is better to trust in the LORD.  It is not a vain trust.  Nor is it a fruitless one.  Even though we might not see immediate fruit from our faith, we can be assured that looking to Jesus will be its own reward someday.  There are only few things that we can bring with us to heaven.  Among those are:  other people, our faith, and our personal knowledge of Jesus.  Let this sustain you as you persevere: He is Close to the Brokenhearted.

Sometimes people view narrowness as being intolerant or small-minded. They view it as exclusivity–something evil, available only to the rich or powerful. God views narrowness differently.

He views His Narrow Way as universally life-giving and open to all even though not all will choose Him. When we choose to seek Him and not to rely upon the smorgasbord of the world’s delights to satisfy our days, we might be viewed by others as choosing a narrow way–a way that restricts or seems intolerant. My choice to seek Jesus, however, doesn’t make anyone else less free to choose what they will do.

Perspective might show that the world’s standards and earthly pleasures appear to be miles wide but in fact, they’re paper thin. God’s way might be a narrow selection but it goes infinitely deep and therefore will be more life-giving and satisfying than anything this world can offer. Think about the Narrow Way as leading to Life and seek Jesus while He may be found.

One of the things we can expect in this world is trouble.  Each day has enough of its own.  Some days, it feels like a whole week’s worth hits you all at once as if you’ve been banking it for such a time as that.

Jesus tells us to expect it because when we’re unprepared, it can hit us like a ton of bricks.  Spiritual attack in the form of discouragement can get the better of us unless we keep our focus that this life is just a shadow of the real life that is ours in Christ.  Jesus doesn’t promise to rescue us out of every trouble, but He does say that no one can snatch us out of His hands.  He is faithful to preserve us through any trouble that comes our way.  Be of good cheer!  Take heart!  Be encouraged!