FAITHFUL WAITING

"Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near."  (James 5:7–8 NIV)

In a world of instant results and endless urgency, James draws us into the quiet strength of a farmer waiting for the rains. No crop matures overnight. No growth unfolds without trust in what’s unseen.

This is the rhythm of faith -- not passive resignation, but faithful anticipation. Patience and perseverance are not weak, but deeply courageous. We wait with hope. We endure with resolve. Because we know the harvest is promised by a God who never forgets His Word. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

#6363

ADVENT HOPE

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and I wait for His word. My soul waits in hope for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; yes, more than the watchmen for the morning.”  (Psalm 130:5-6)

Sometimes hope feels wishful, like crossing our fingers and dreaming of a better outcome. We might hope for better employment, healed relationships, or a brighter future. But that kind of hope is based on things that may or may not happen. When things don’t go as we hoped, it can be crushing -- our hope disappearing like vapor.

As a season of reflection and contemplation, Advent invites us to imagine a different kind of hope, rooted in the unchanging nature of God and His promise to restore every part of His creation. Advent hope does not minimize pain or difficulty, nor does it assume things will soon get better. Instead, it faces the darkness with courage and chooses to trust that God’s promises will come to pass, guaranteed by His long-proven, faithful character.

In the Hebrew Bible, the words most often used for hope -- qavah and yakhal -- are also translated as “wait.” To hope in God means to wait with patient expectation, trusting that He will fulfill His promises. This kind of waiting leans forward, anticipating the day when Jesus will return to make all things new. Such hope empowers people to persevere, to act justly, and to serve others as a sign of the restoration that will arrive through Jesus.

-- From “The BibleProject Guide to Advent”

#6253

A PRAYER FOR THOSE ADRIFT

“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.”  (Psalm 139:9-10 NIV)

God, You are at the center of this. Or You are all about me. Or even though I cannot name how You are here at all, still You are.

I cannot rush matters now. Where would I rush to? I cannot deny that I am completely at sea. The sea and the drifting are all I look upon, day to day.

Yet somehow, by the thinnest of membranes, You keep me from sinking into the abyss. With Your barely perceptible touch, You convey me, though I have no idea where. Through all of this uncertain movement, let my heart be toward You. Let me trust . . . and wait.

Amen.

-- Stephen V. Doughty from "Adrift" in “Weavings Journal,” March/April 2001, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#6139

WAITING WITH THE WORD

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV)

Our waiting is always shaped by alertness to the Word.  It is waiting in the knowledge that someone wants to address us.  The question is, Are we home?  Are we at our address, ready to respond to the doorbell?  We need to wait together, to keep each other at home spiritually, so that when the Word comes it can become flesh in us.  That is why the Book of God is always in the midst of those who gather.  We read the Word so that the Word can become flesh and have a whole new life in us. 

-- Henri Nouwen in “Weavings”, January 1987, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#5682

SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN

“If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country -- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."  (Hebrews 11:15-16 NIV)

After the children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt, after they had been chased by Pharaoh's army, and after they'd escaped through the Red Sea, they grumbled. They wished they were back home again, even if home to them was altogether incompatible with the plan and purpose God had claimed on their lives. They'd rather go back than go forward, or rather go forward, than just sit. The worst place of all, they believed, was being stuck there in between.

The comfort zone of home life can often be just as damaging to our spiritual growth as the enticing attraction of future ambition. That's why sometimes, in order to get us adequately prepared for the moments to come, God may not allow us to return to the way things used to be, the place where we could easily become lulled into complacency. When God needs us bold and fervent and clear of mind -- when He wants our faith primed and pregnant for the fire to fall -- He'll often call us to an in-between place. Not quite where we're going to be, but not all the way back to where we were. Life in the middle can be unsettling, but don't be discouraged. Stay put. Trust God, and in due time He'll move you on. 

– Adapted from Priscilla Shirer in “Elijah: Faith and Fire”

#5549

FOCUSING ON THE LORD’S PRESENCE

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Revelation 1:8)

Wait patiently with Me while I bless you. Don’t rush into My Presence with time-consciousness gnawing at our mind. I dwell in timelessness: I am, I was, I will be always. For you, time is a protection; you’re a frail creature who can handle only twenty-four-hour segments of life. Time can be a tyrant, ticking away relentlessly in your mind. Learn to master time, or it will master you.

Though you are a time-bound creature, seek to meet Me in timelessness. As you focus on My Presence, the demands of time and tasks will diminish. I will bless you and keep you, making My face shine upon you graciously, giving you Peace. (Numbers 6:24-26) 

-- Adapted from “Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence” by Sarah Young 

#5526

ACTIVE WAITING

“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”  (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV)

Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. That's the secret.

The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun.

Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment. 

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen in “The Weavings Reader” published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#5509

ADVENT WAITING

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:12 NIV)

Sometimes it seems as though we spend our lives waiting. Daydreaming about an upcoming vacation, worrying over a medical test, preparing for the birth of a child or grandchild -- our days are filled with anticipation and anxiety over what the future holds. As Christians, we, too, spend our lives waiting. But we are waiting for something much bigger than a trip, bigger even than retirement or a wedding: We are waiting for the return of Jesus in glory. Advent heightens this sense of waiting, because it marks not only our remembrance of Jesus’ arrival into our world more than 2,000 years ago – the Word made flesh -- but also our anticipation of His final coming. 

-- Author Unknown

#5482

A TIME OF WAITING

“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”  (Isaiah 40:31)

I'm an impatient, restless person. Slowing down and waiting seem like a waste of time. Yet waiting seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition.

Henri Nouwen said, "Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about Him for whom we are waiting."

Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Romans 8:22-25 resonates with Nouwen: "Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting" (The Message).

During a time of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us. 

-- Luci Shaw in “Nouwen Then”

#5448

ADVENT WAITING AND WATCHING

It turns out that the One who made us is also the One who cannot stand for us to be apart. And that One begins to whisper to the ones who will listen -- "I will come again, I will walk among you. Look for me in a child who is to come, born of a maiden." The ones who hear the whisper and believe it begin to whisper themselves, trying to describe as best they can what they hear and what is to come. They use words like "Messiah," "Immanuel," the "Rod of Jesse," and "Son of David," trying to speak of what they know can hardly be said. The collective repeating of the whisper grows in volume until it has become as the sound of a voice crying in the wilderness.

Those who have begun to wait and to watch can indeed do only that: wait and watch. They look for the signs of God among us and wait and hope and wonder if they have somehow misunderstood.

And now we wait along with them again. 

-- Robert Benson in “The Night of the Child” (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 2001. Used with permission.) 

#5244

ADVENT HOPE – FAITHFUL EXPECTATION

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope.”  (Psalm 130:5)

In modern language, hope has become little more than a strong wish or a way of stating our preference. Hope, however, is a holy word, a powerful and exciting word. The word hope really means "faithful expectation." We hope, that is we faithfully expect that God is acting on our behalf to create, to save, and to sustain us. We claim an expectation for the future, even when the present does not provide proof that the future will be good; and we do so faithfully, within the relationship we claim with God in Jesus Christ. When we as faithful people say "hope," we should use the word with our feet firmly planted, our head held high, and our life relying on the God who will not let us go. We need to say "hope" as a prayer, as an affirmation of faith, and as a doxology to the living God. 

-- Randy Cross in “Born to Save: An Advent Study Based on the Revised Common Lectionary” 

#5233 

PATIENT TRUST

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.”  (Psalm 40:1) 

What does it look like to wait with patient trust?

Henri Nouwen gave us a picture of patient trust not long before he died in 1996. Writing about some trapeze artists who became good friends of his, he explained that there is a very special relationship between the flyer and catcher…

As the flyer is swinging high above the crowd, the moment comes when he lets go of the trapeze, when he arcs out into the air. For that moment, which must feel like an eternity, the flyer is suspended in nothingness. It is too late to reach back for the trapeze. There is no going back now. However, it is too soon to be grasped by the one who will catch him. He cannot accelerate the catch. In that moment, his job is to be as still and motionless as he can.

"The flyer must never try to catch the catcher," the trapeze artist told Nouwen. "He must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him. But he must wait. His job is not to flail about in anxiety. In fact, if he does, it could kill him. His job is to be still. To wait. And to wait is the hardest work of all."

You may be in that very vulnerable moment right now -- you have let go of what God has called you to let go of, but can't feel God's other hand catching you yet. Will you wait in absolute trust? Will you be patient? Waiting requires patient trust. 

-- John Ortberg in “If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat”

#5203

WAIT FOR THE LORD

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  (Psalm 27:14)

Waiting may be one of the ultimate tests of our faith. It certainly is one of the hardest spiritual disciplines to learn.

Isaiah wisely encouraged those who are waiting on God to consider others who have waited on Him. He pointed out in Isaiah 64:4, “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.”

Scripture says if we wait on God we will be blessed. If we grow impatient while waiting and take matters into our own hands, we’ll be in trouble.

Are you waiting on God for something? Then take heart. Don’t run ahead. Be strong enough to wait. Wait. And again I say, wait for the Lord. 

-- Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

#5145

THE CRY OF ADVENT

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned… For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:2 & 6 NIV)

Christmas is the time of year when everything is amplified -- the joys and sorrows, the celebration and grief, the gift of community and the pain of isolation. That’s why it is so important to be mindful of Advent. It is a time for keeping watch in the darkness, for naming the anguish of waiting, and for pressing forward with hope, even when everything seems bleak and desolate.

Name your longings to God. Offer the cry of your heart, the ways you are waiting for light to dawn in the darkness. Ask God for the courage to wait and hope.

It is the cry of Advent -- the cry for Jesus to come and save and rescue and redeem, the cry for Jesus to come as Light and Life, to come and enter the dark chaos of the world and shine like the dawn upon all who walked in the shadow of fear and despair and death. It is the cry of Advent, the cry for Jesus to come.

-- Adapted from “Shades of Light” by Sharon Garlough Brown


#4740

SOMETHING ON THE HORIZON

“’The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; He will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD Our Righteous Savior.'”  (Jeremiah 33:14-16 NIV)

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before ... What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.

-- Jan L. Richardson

#4728

ALL CREATION WAITS

“No more let sins and sorrows grow
nor thorns infest the ground:
He comes to make His blessings flow
far as the curse is found.”  (From “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts)

Any careful reading of the Bible provides a lot of evidence to support the claim that trying to make all things good and beautiful is very much a part of being God's people.  When Jesus saved us, He called us to be partners with Him in the work that He wanted to do in the world.  There is little doubt that our Lord very much wants to recreate this world through us and make it like new.  Part of the reason why Jesus came into the world and saved us from sin was for just that purpose.  Through us who are saved and sanctified by His grace, He wants to renew the earth.  God's will is that everything, ourselves included, should be made new and beautiful again.  The Bible says as much in Romans 8:19ff:

"For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering.  We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us." (Romans 8:19-23 NLT) 

-- Tony Campolo in “Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God” 


#4485

SLOWLY BUT SURELY

“Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.”  (Psalm 27:14 NLT)

The things that matter most take time, effort, patience, sacrifice, discipline, and deep commitment. Too much, too soon, too easily… is the perfect formula for frustration, heartache, and mediocrity. When we GET too easily and REACH too quickly, we tend to APPRECIATE too lightly. To be sure, some things you can get immediately by pushing buttons or paying money down or by pulling out a plastic card. But great things, the real values, do not come that way; they have to be grown and cultivated. You can get a sports car or a [smart] TV with a quick down payment, but character, morality, integrity, maturity, spiritual strength -- these you have to wait for, work for, want intensely, commit to, and cultivate and grow slowly but surely.

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”

#4370

WAIT ON THE LORD

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."  (Isaiah 40:31)

God doesn't tell us how He'll answer our prayers, or even when, but He does promise those who wait on Him one thing -- strength. Tony Evans points out that the word "wait" comes from a Hebrew word used in the making of rope. Every rope starts as a thread, and every thread added just increases its strength. Getting the idea? Every time you wait on the Lord you add another thread to the rope; you get a little stronger, a little more able to cope. Feel like you're just hanging on by a thread? Wait in God's presence and let Him turn it into a rope.

But waiting is not always passive, sometimes it's active; like waiting on a customer, seeing that his or her needs are met. Waiting is not so much a position, as it is a focus. Isaiah says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed [focused] on Thee" (Isa 26:3). Whether it's sitting prayerfully in God's presence, or actively carrying out His will, you've got His assurance that your strength will be renewed. Listen to these promises:
      (1) "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14 NKJV).
      (2) "Wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5 NKJV).
      (3) "As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters... so our eyes look to  the Lord our God" (Ps 123:2 NKJV).

Need more strength? Wait on God more!

-- Source Unknown, from a subscriber in Pennsylvania

#4117

WAITING FOR GOD

“I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,
and what He will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the LORD answered me and said:
‘Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.’”  (Habakkuk 2:1-3)

The writer Anthony Padovano once observed that "we wait for everything that is really worth having . . . we even wait for God."  Waiting in the Biblical tradition is not passive or forgetful, but active, eager, yearning, and engaged.  Habakkuk determines to wait on God for the Resolution of his crisis; God, in turn, bids him, "If it seems to tarry, wait."  What are you waiting for most fervently for yourself? For your loved ones?  Your church?  Your community?  The world?  Name these things before God in prayer, claiming God's promises.

-- Paul L. Escamilla in Spiritual Formation Bible -- NIV

#3929

OPEN-ENDED WAITING

Waiting is open-ended.  Open-ended waiting is hard for us because we tend to wait for something very concrete, for something that we wish to have.  Much of our waiting is filled with wishes: "I wish that I would have a job.  I wish that the weather would be better.  I wish that the pain would go." 

We are full of wishes, and our waiting easily gets entangled in those wishes.  For this reason, a lot of our waiting is not open-ended. Instead, our waiting is a way of controlling the future.  We want the future to go in a very specific direction, and if this does not happen we are disappointed and can even slip into despair.  That is why we have such a hard time waiting; we want to do the things that will make the desired events take place.  Here we can see how wishes tend to be connected with fears.

But Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary were not filled with wishes.  They were filled with hope.  Hope is something very different.  Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to the promises and not just according to our wishes.  Therefore, hope is always open-ended.

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen in "A Spirituality of Waiting", from The Weavings Reader, John S. Mogabgab, editor, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.


#3560