Are you the kind of person who goes after what they want, grabbing hold of that which brings pleasure and success? I can understand why you would. That’s the message of the world today.
Go after it! Make the most of the time you have! You can be rich now!
What happened to “slow and steady wins the race:” “the things worth having are worth waiting for?”
As a follower of Jesus Christ, waiting is all through scripture, though most of us choose to ignore it. I even cross-stitched a verse about it (for my husband, not me, of course):
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.*
A book which greatly impacted my life was written by a woman who knew about waiting. Her name was Elisabeth Elliot. This amazing woman of God, who served among the Auca people of eastern Ecuador and then continued to serve after her husband and other colleagues were martyred there; this woman struggled with call and love and faith. Her transparency touched my heart as a struggling twenty-something, and for today’s Wednesday Wisdom, I want to share a poem she wrote as she sought God’s direction about her relationship with Jim Elliot.
I wait.
Dear Lord, Thy ways
Are past finding out,
Thy love too high.
O hold me still
Beneath Thy shadow.
It is enough that Thou
Lift up the light
Of Thy countenance.
I wait —
Because I am commanded
So to do. My mind
Is filled with wonderings.
My soul asks “Why?”
But then the quiet word,
“Wait thou only Upon God.”
And so, not even for the light
To show a step ahead,
But for Thee, dear Lord,
I wait.*
What are you longing for today? Wait for God’s confirmation that it’s his for you as well.
Wait.
Grace and Peace
*Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
Elliot, Elisabeth. Passion and Purity. USA: Fleming H. Revell, 1984. p. 71.