Hoping in the Lord

I have spent a lot of time the last several months thinking about what it means to hope in the Lord and how I actually do that. I have had some of my "hopes" crushed the last year. I know many of my dear friends have experienced the same thing. I have waited on the Lord to answer, guide and direct and yet seen nothing. Again, many of my dear friends are experiencing the same struggle. What does it mean to hope in the Lord? Do I just completely give up my hopes and dreams? It sounds super spiritual to say I only want the Lord's will and don't have hopes of my own but that is not actually realistic. I do want the Lord's will and I have many dreams of my own also.  I am too weak to just make my hopes go away.  I have surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and His leading in my life but find after many years of walking with Him it is still a struggle.  I know that all I could ever hope for can only be fulfilled in Christ Jesus. However, the predicament remains...What am I to do will all my hopes and dreams?

I know nothing but to surrender all my hopes and give them to my Lord.  I envision bringing them to Him as something I treasure in a beautifully wrapped gift.  I give them to my Lord as a meager, poor sacrifice. I don't know what He will do with it. Maybe one day He will give it back to me exactly as I hoped. Perhaps instead He will polish it up a bit or make some minor adjustments and give it back to me exactly as I hoped but even better. Even still, He may take my small hope and stow it away where He cherishes all our meager offerings and instead He may give me something far greater and more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. But I must first bring it and lay it before His feet...

He is trustworthy with everything I have, my life, my future, and all my heart's desire. His care for me and my simple hopes is beyond my comprehension. He wants my whole heart and my only hope to be in Him.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen

Always Waiting For Something...

It's human nature to be looking, straining ahead to see what's coming next around the bend, hoping it's better or bigger than what's going on right now. We're always waiting for something or someone--to change, to be different, to improve, to just be. When we're children, we're waiting to be teenagers with all the rights and privileges thereof. When we're teenagers, we're waiting to go to college or start a career. When we're young single adults, we're waiting to meet the love of our lives. When we've met them, we're waiting to get married. Whether we're single or married, we're still waiting...for the better job, the bigger house, the nicer vacation...and on...and on.

It's not that hoping for something better or waiting for the next thing is inherently wrong. In fact, I think the hope for something better to come was placed within each of us by God Himself. The desire for bigger and better, as God designed it, is meant to point us to the life He wants us to live with Him. It's to remind us that there is something, Someone, better than this world around us and all that it has to offer. It's to teach us to long for our eternal home. We are meant to be waiting in hopeful expectation.

The problem is we often get caught up in waiting for all the wrong things, things that ultimately don't satisfy. The Bible says over and over again to "wait on the Lord" and to "put your hope in the Lord." As followers of Christ, our hope, what we're really waiting for, is our Bridegroom to come collect us, His Bride, and take us home to spend eternity serving and worshiping at His feet.

It's just so easy for our eternal focus and hopeful expectation to be lured away by the birth pains of the world around us caused by sin. The world is groaning, waiting for restoration, and often we begin to hope in the empty promises the world makes to us. We can even be distracted by good things or things related to serving the Lord--the hope of a new ministry to fulfill our calling from God, the desire for a godly mate to serve the Lord with, the need for God to reveal to us what the next step of obedience is. All of those things are important parts of walking with the Lord, and it is true that the Lord longs to give us the desire of our hearts (Psalm 37:4), but I think each of those things has the potential to throw us off the course of waiting on the Lord and hoping in Him alone.

Jesus said that we are to seek His Kingdom and righteousness first, then all other things will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). That's the right order--seeking, hoping for Christ's return and our lives in His Kingdom to begin, and then, seeking to serve Him and grow His Kingdom while we're waiting in hopeful expectation here on earth.

There's nothing more satisfying, nothing more hopeful than waiting on the Lord. When our hope is in the Lord, we can count everything else as loss for the sake of knowing Him better (Philippians 3:8). No matter what our earthly circumstances or the birth pains we are going through, when our eyes are fixed on the Author and Finisher of our faith, we can say with the Psalmist,
"I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him there is abundant redemption!" (Psalm 130:5-7)

12 Springs

I was thinking this weekend about a current situation in my life in which I have been "drinking the bitter waters." They have not satisfied and never will. I was asking the Lord for my 12 springs when I was silenced as I realized they are always available to me. He is my 12 springs and I can drink from His abundance always. Asking for anything or anyone other than is presence is still asking for bitter water. How grateful I am that I can always drink of the living water and never thirst.

Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
 Come to the waters;
 And you who have no money,
 Come, buy and eat.
 Yes, come, buy wine and milk
 Without money and without price.
 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
 And your wages for what does not satisfy?
 Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
 And let your soul delight itself in abundance. ~ Isaiah 55.1,2

Waiting for My 12 Springs

A good friend recently reminded me of the story of the waters at Marah in Exodus 15.  It was actually a few years ago that another dear friend shared how her pastor had encouraged her with this story. I have loved this story ever since and it is something I often come back to when thinking about singleness, but its truths apply to many situations that find us wandering, wondering, and waiting….

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter;…So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.

The Israelites had just experienced God’s mighty redemption from Egypt and seen the waters of the Red Sea part so they could cross.  They were in the wilderness for just 3 days and began grumbling and doubting the Lord’s provision.  God, in all His compassion, heard their complaints and made the waters sweet so they could drink.  Why did the Lord wait three days to give them water?  Why hadn’t He already provided something for them?  Why did He lead them to water they couldn't even drink?

He knew what was ahead…

Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

He had something far better waiting for them than bitter water made sweet. He had an oasis just down the road!

I am so like the Israelites.  The Lord has done marvelous things in my life and shown His mighty hand in my life over and over.  But give me a few days of hard times and struggle and I quickly turn in to a grumbling, ungrateful child.  I can’t see the whole picture or know what is ahead.  I only know I am ‘thirsty’ now and I want the Lord to fix it! I know I am single and I just don’t want to be anymore, so give me a husband already Lord.  I want to move onto the next thing, so let’s just get on with it Lord!

I stand at the bitter water and think it is what will quench my thirst, but I don’t know what is ahead.  Do you think if Israel knew what was ahead, they would have bypassed Marah and kept on trucking to their oasis? I think so.  Do you think they sat at those 12 springs and said, “Can you believe we wanted that bitter water?” I imagine they did.

God’s provision is always abundantly more than I can imagine.  I don’t want bitter water when I have twelve springs waiting. I know I will come to bitter waters in times of thirst and I will probably grumble and ask the Lord to make them sweet for me.  My prayer has been, however, that the Lord would withhold the bitter water, even when I cry out for it, and to help me wait for the twelve springs He has prepared.  I know it will be worth it.

Renew

Welcome to the first month of 2010. It's the time of year where we all take stock of what blessings and trials the previous year held, what we'd like to accomplish in the year ahead, and, most certainly, what we'd like to do differently this year from last year. For me, 2009 contained many exciting new changes, and 2010 will be hard-pressed to top them! I received a Christmas gift from my boss and his wife and the note that came with it said, "Wow! A new wife, new town, new job, and a new degree all at once—are you tired yet?!" I am tired, but filled to overflowing with the blessings the past year has brought.

As I thanked the Lord for all the opportunities for change and growth in 2009, I also began to ponder what I wanted the Lord to do in my life this year. The word "RENEW" flitted across my mind. 2009 was filled with so much NEW that I would love for 2010 to be about RENEWAL—renewing relationships, old hobbies, a strict exercise schedule, my commitment to serve the Lord wherever He plants me, etc.

Then the Lord brought Romans 12:1-2 to my mind, which says, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (NASB) Here are a couple of things the Lord brought to my attention regarding the idea of renewal as I studied this passage.

• I should seek to glorify God in all things by offering myself as a sacrifice of worship to God. I must relinquish ownership and control of my life.
  
• I should be so radically and totally changed by a fresh, new, restored state of mind that I am no longer shaped by the world around me.

Since both of these points are completely countercultural in today's world, I had to ask myself a couple of questions to wrap my brain around what the Lord was trying to communicate through this passage. What does this look like in my life? What, practically, does it mean to renew my mind?

• It means out with the old, in with the new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." This verse declares that my state of being is that of a new creation. The new things of new creaturliness replace the old, rotten sin nature. What are some of these new things? Paul writes in Ephesians 5 that goodness, righteousness and truth are characteristics of our new nature. In Colossians 3, Paul also says that we are dead to our old sinful way of living and that we are to put on the new identity we have in Christ. This new self, Paul writes, "is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." As a result of this new life, renewed life, we are to remember that we are chosen, holy, and beloved of God so that we can put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other, and above everything else, love. These things are to become daily habits, which will help cement in my mind my identity as a new creature in Christ.
  
• It also means that I have to establish a new thought pattern. So often my actions can appear holy and good, but my thoughts are a mess. One thing I've learned about myself over the last year is how OCD I can be about pleasing others. I am often irrationally terrified that I am going to disappoint someone that I love. These lies are straight from the pit itself, and believing them is not only hindering my ability to trust, please, and obey the Lord, it also has the potential to damage friendships. The solution: I need new thoughts to replace those irrational, damaging, fearful thoughts. How do I do that?

-Destroy speculations and lofty things by taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

-Put the thoughts to death by using my most powerful weapon, Scripture (Ephesians 6:17)

-Memorize whole passages of Scripture to have ready when the thoughts rear their ugly heads (Psalm 119:11)

-Dwell on "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, those things that are excellent or praiseworthy" (Philippians 4:8)

If I actively participate in fighting the old nature and sinful thought patterns, before too long my brain will be retrained. And as my mind is being renewed over and over as I allow God's Word to guard my heart and mind, I am transformed into a woman who is not conformed to the world around me, but gloriously and supernaturally equipped to discern what God's pleasing and acceptable will is for me and for every good work that God has prepared for me (2 Timothy 3:17). I don't know about you, but I'm praying expectantly that my life in 2010 will be characterized by the transforming power of a renewed mind that I may be able to bring God glory in the church and among the lost!

New Things

I have been thinking how thankful I am that ours is the God of new things.  I looked up Webster's definition of new and found some things to ponder in light of the Word and God's redeeming work in our lives.

• appearing, thought of, developed, made for the first time
• different from one in the past
• strange unfamiliar
• recently grown; fresh
• more; additional
• starting as a repetition of a cycle

For some, the last six months have been difficult, maybe the most difficult in their lives, and for others they have been some of the best.  Regardless of what the last six months held, we can all look forward to what the New Year brings.  But more importantly than the a new year, we can rejoice in what the God of new things can do in our lives at any time, during any season.

• He can give us new things that we had never thought of before and do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. (Ephesians 4.20)
• He has given us a new heart, different from the one in the past. (Ezekial 11.19, 36.26)
  
• He can give us something different, something better than we had, even in the midst of a dry season.(Isaiah 43.18,20)
• When we wait on Him, he promises to give us a new strength. (Isaiah 40.31)
• Over and over the Psalmist tells us to sing a new song, and many times this is so the ends of the earth will hear His praises.   (Psalm 33, 40, 96, 98, 144, 149)
• In the midst of all our lives He is working out the story of redemption and the 'cycle ' He began in the garden to restore all of creation.

We are all in different places, new places. I am hopeful and wait expectantly to see all the new things the Lord is going to do in all our lives but so very thankful for dear, old, friends.
 

And He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold I am making all things new. And he said, write for these words are faithful and true. ~ Rev 21.5

Come Lord Jesus!