waiting.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not grow weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Waiting... Don't you just hate waiting? Waiting in lines, waiting for test results, waiting at stoplights, etc. I hate waiting. I am an impatient person in an impatient world, which is giving us answers as fast as 4G and LTE. However, the Word of God tells us to wait for and upon the Lord. What does that even mean?

Something I realized today is that when life throws things your way, you have two options: 1) to get up and fight or 2) to lay down, raise up a white flag and wait on God for the victory. The crazy thing is neither one is more "spiritual" than the other. In some seasons, God calls us to take the hits, stand up and fight. In others, God tells us to wait and rest in his sovereignty and protection.

In my whole walk with Jesus, I have fought. The other option seems weak, and for someone like me, being weak and incompetent may be the worse thing. I am really thankful I have fought, and I know without a shadow of doubt that God is really proud of me for fighting. Fighting has produced in me a perseverance that will choose God despite anything coming my way. However, there is something I've been missing in the character of God. That part of God's character is only encountered when you're in the weakest place you could ever be with the white flag raised. There is something so beautiful in laying down in your junk and waiting on God to come and clean you up. If I don't get this, I think I will walk through a lot of life tired, bitter and alone. I would never grasp what it means to say, "God has to show up."

God is deeply honored by that choice because it brings us to a place of complete desperation and dependency. God can't be anyone or anything but himself, so when we present ourselves in such a way, he comes, meets us, and heals us. It is in his healing touch, full of gentleness and tenderness, that we see the unrelenting love and pursuit of God. And guess what? We get the victory too because (spoiler alert) God already won. It really is a choice though. Who really wants to lay down in the midst of a battle and wait? However, I think I've needed to be reminded that victory or defeat never resides in me, but it's always been in him and in him alone. So when he says, "Fight," I will fight, and when he says, "Rest," I will rest. I have to choose to stand on the goodness of God and trust in his perfect timing.