2009 – Day 189.July 19 – Results of Waiting

2009 – Day 189.July 19 – Results of Waiting

Passage of the Day: Esther 4: 12 - 17 … 12 So they told Mordecai Esther’s words. 13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”
17 So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him.

My Journal for Today: Yesterday we were reminded of the delay of three days which took place between the text of Esther, chapters 4 and 5; and we don’t know what transpired in those days. It’s a reminder that there are often times when God seems absent or silent when crucial events are occurring in our lives. Yet we know, for example from a passage like Deut. 31: 8 that God not only never forsakes His disciples, He is going on ahead to prepare a way. That’s also the NT message of 1st Cor. 10: 13 where God never puts a follower into any trial or test, in which He, our faithful God, will not also provide the way of victory for us.

As Swindoll points out it’s the playing out of the Prophet’s message in Isaiah 40: 31, that familiar passage, which reads …
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.

And Swindoll goes on, in his devotional message this date, to point out four important points we need to remember from this passage in Isaiah about waiting for the Lord.

First, even in the midst of draining emotional and/or physical circumstances (i.e., trials), waiting on the Lord will provide new strength. It’s the working out of the truth of 2nd Cor. 12: 9, where we know and can rely on God’s promise that His enabling grace is always sufficient to give us His strength to cover our weakness.

Secondly, as we mount up on wings like eagles, our waiting on God provides a new and higher perspective. The high ground in battle is always preferred to the low; and I’ve discovered this higher perspective is attained and maintained through persistent prayer, especially in the hard times. In battle terminology, it’s the working out of Eph. 6: 18, waiting in the Spirit gives us the high ground.

Thirdly, when we wait on the Lord we can actually store up extra energy for the future. We “shall run and not grow weary” even into our future. Again, I cite Deut. 31: 8 as God is always way ahead of us; and whatever we’re called to do, He has already gone ahead to provide the way and to provide the strength.

And finally, as we read, “They shall walk and not faint,” waiting on the Lord helps to give us determination to persevere. It’s what James wrote about (in James 1: 2 - 4) for us to even count it all joy in the midst of trials that God is working out our completion in Christ.

So, my dear one, are you in the midst of some trial, test, or tribulation? Well, if you are not now, know that down the road you will be; and now is the time to be waiting on the Lord to give you what it takes to deal with the test at hand or to store up God’s strength for the future. Let us fly like eagles and not grow weary. Let us walk and not grow faint. For in our trials, God gives us the strength to endure and the opportunity to shine His light for others to see His glory.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, give me the strength to fly above the fray. Amen