WATCHWORD
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. […] 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.11 Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. 13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:1-3,10-14
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid (so doubtful)?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. Matthew 8:26
Meditation:
What Are You Waiting For?
“What are you waiting for?” was the question posed by Pastor Poh Fang Chia in a recent Our Daily Bread devotional which caused me to think, what am I waiting for from God? Direction? Peace? Inspiration? Healing? What?
Are we waiting for something that builds us up personally? Or are we waiting for something that touches the lives of others; loved ones, family members, victims of violence or natural disasters? Maybe you prayed for each of them, and that is what you are waiting, results?
Maybe, just maybe, with our earthbound brain and our earthbound eyes we are blind to the fact that God is already working on what we were praying about. We want to see tangible results. We want to know that our prayers have not gone unanswered or simply have been ignored, Heaven forbid! It’s at that point in our earthbound lives when we may hear loud and clear from God: “You of little faith, why are you so afraid (so doubtful)?”.
When we pay attention to the scriptures and the parables that Jesus shared there is a clear pattern of “Holy Catchphrases”, such as ‘Go and do likewise’, ‘trust in the Lord’, ‘do not be afraid’, ‘I will never leave you’. Are we acting on all those, believing those? Hmm. I sense another question: Am I waiting for God or is the Almighty waiting for us to act like His child and follow His commands?
If that is what the Lord is waiting for, then a bit of self-examination may be called for on our part. Are we following our Lord or are we simply waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Him? Trust and obey…it’s foundational to our faith. So, it’s our move. So be it.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly father, open our hearts and our minds to your presence. Help us, Lord, to truly trust you and to not be afraid regardless of the circumstances that may surround us. Help us to change our focus lord from what we think we are waiting for to simply resting in the peace of your presence in our lives. When we come before you Lord help us to be other oriented help us to love others as you love us. In the name of Jesus our Lord and our savior. Amen
