wait for the Lord

Wait For It

Posted on by Betsy

If you have spent even a minute on social media, you have probably seen the caption “Wait for it” on videos. This is an indication that the funny moment or big reveal happens at the very end of the clip. Do you suppose this is an indication of how short our attention spans have become? Do we really need an instruction on a 30 second video to wait for the ending? That’s a scary thought.

Our lectionary this week has a lot of “wait for it” instructions. We find it again in this passage from Habakkuk. Habakkuk stood before Jerusalem as yet another foreign enemy army was on a rampage to destroy Judah. God’s people remained there after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C., but it became evident that Judah will fall as well.

This remarkable dialogue between the prophet and God has a lot to teach us about waiting, disappointment, and why it sometimes seems that God is inactive in our strife. Or is he?

Habakkuk 1 (Common English Bible)

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 Lord, how long will I call for help and you not listen?
        I cry out to you, “Violence!”
            but you don’t deliver us.
3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish
        so that devastation and violence are before me?
There is strife, and conflict abounds.
4         The Instruction is ineffective.
            Justice does not endure
            because the wicked surround the righteous.
        Justice becomes warped.

These words express the tears of frustration and betrayal that the people of Judah felt. They saw the walls closing in and were acutely aware of their impending destruction. Why was God not coming to their defense? Where was the justice? Why were the wicked people prospering?

But Habakkuk remembers his place, and returns to his post in humble obedience.

2:1  I will take my post;
        I will position myself on the fortress.
        I will keep watch to see what the Lord says to me
        and how he will respond to my complaint.

Then God answered the prophet’s complaint.

2 Then the Lord answered me and said,

Write a vision, and make it plain upon a tablet
    so that a runner can read it.
3         There is still a vision for the appointed time;
            it testifies to the end;
                it does not deceive.

If you are in a place of great hurt right now and you need God to come, read this. He will come in his time.

If it delays, wait for it;
        for it is surely coming; it will not be late.

4 Some people’s desires are truly audacious;
            they don’t do the right thing.
        But the righteous person will live honestly

So, if you are waiting for justice, vengeance, deliverance, the truth to come out, or any audacious thing to be overturned, just wait for it. Return to your post in humble obedience. Surely it is coming, saith the Lord.

Waiting for Dawn by Michelle Robertson

New Mercies

Posted on by Betsy

What is your favorite hymn? I have several, but “Great is thy Faithfulness” is way on the top of the list.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Chorus: Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

(Chorus)

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

(Chorus)

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with 10, 000 beside.

Would it surprise you to know that this positive and upbeat hymn is based on the Old Testament book of Lamentations? Here is the story:

Thomas O. Chisholm was born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1866. He succeeded academically even though he did not receive a formal education. Thomas became a schoolteacher at the age of 16 in the same schoolhouse where he was educated. He later became associate editor of the local newspaper and moved on to be an editor of the Pentecostal Herald in Louisville, Kentucky.

At the age of 26, Thomas made one of the most important decisions that he would make in his life when he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior in 1893. In 1903, he was officially ordained a minister, but was forced to limit his years of service due to his poor health.

Thomas wrote hundreds of poems throughout his life. One was based in Lamentations 3:22-23:

“22 Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! 23 They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”

Thomas sent this poem to a fellow minister and friend, William Runyan who configured a musical setting for the poem and called it, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

Let’s now read the full passage from Lamentations, written by the prophet Jeremiah as he reflected on the desolation of the once-proud city of Jerusalem.

Lamentations 3 (Common English Bible)

19 The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison. 20 I can’t help but remember and am depressed. 21 I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.
22 Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!
23 They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Powerful words. What does it say to you? Are you watching destruction and desolation, and longing for God to intervene in your situation? What can you do? According to Jeremiah, you can wait.

24 I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him. 25 The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the person who seeks him.26 It’s good to wait in silence for the Lord’s deliverance.

May we wait in silence today for the Lord’s deliverance from everything that has come to steal our hope.

Reflections of Waiting by Kathy Schumacher

Growing Weary

Posted on by Betsy

Let’s go back to a time in your life when you were truly, utterly, exhausted. For many of us, the first thing that comes to mind is living with a newborn. There is no tired like post-pushing tired. I remember once waking up in the middle of the night to discover that I was standing up and leaning over my daughter’s crib. I had gotten up to soothe her, knowing that she was fed and dry. As I rubbed her back, I fell asleep in that position. I don’t know if I slept for 5 seconds or 5 minutes, but I don’t ever remember being that tired.

There are several variations of “tired.” We can grow weary of relationships. We can feel fatigued at the incessant opposition to our beliefs. We can become quickly exhausted by lack of sleep, lack of courtesy, lack of respect, lack of empathy, and especially lack of hope.

When this pandemic started, I likened it to a marathon, with the good news that every race has a prescribed course that is carefully marked out, and ends with a fixed and discernible finish line. Today I learned that there is something called the “Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race” that takes place in Queens, New York every year. It takes 52 days of running 6 a.m. to midnight to complete it. The average mileage is a little under 60 miles a day. Runners have six hours per day for eating, washing, foot care, and sleep. Just thinking about that makes me tired.

So let me revise my earlier analogy of the pandemic being like a marathon, because now we realize that it is more like a “Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race” and we have all become ultramarathoners.

But don’t miss the point…there is still a finish line at the end of this race, and every morning when we wake up, we are one day closer to the end.

Isaiah has some beautiful things to say about feeling faint, growing weary, being powerless, and where we can go to have our strength renewed:

Isaiah 40 (New Revised Standard Version)

Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.

How reassuring is this? We are not running this ultramarathon alone, but indeed, God is running right there with us. He is the everlasting God. HE does not faint or grow weary. And look what happens next:

29 He gives power to the faint,
    and strengthens the powerless.

In the battle of virtual school, virtual church, virtual family birthday parties, virtual work, and virtually everything, God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. We need that NOW.

30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those 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.

Those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They shall continue to run this crazy race and not be weary. The finish line is getting closer! Keep your head up and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We truly are one day closer to the end of this thing.

Finish Line by Erin Gregory

Prayer-Conditioned Life

Posted on by Betsy

I am working on a sermon on the subject of waiting and how we should spend our time when we are made to wait. I think I am pretty safe in saying that nobody likes to wait. I know people who hate to wait in line so much that they study the check-out lines in the grocery store very carefully as they finish their shopping. As they approach, they choose a line but still watch the other lines. If one suddenly seems to be moving, they dart over.

But you know you are really bad when you keep watching the other lines even when your groceries are on the conveyer belt. Some of us get mad if the guy we would have been behind in another line ends up finishing fast. I may or may not be married to someone like that.

I discovered someone who I think could be labeled as a “Champion Waiter.” We meet her very briefly in the second chapter of Luke, at the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. It was a Jewish tradition that forty days after giving birth, mothers went to the Temple to be purified. Firstborn sons were presented at that time in recognition of their position as the spiritual leader of their siblings. Anna was in the temple that day because, well, Anna was in the temple everyday:

Luke 2 (New Revised Standard Version)

36”There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 

As a first-century widow, Anna certainly knew prejudice, neglect, sorrow, and loneliness. But Anna spent her days worshipping and praying in the house of the Lord. She is remembered by Luke as a prophet, for she saw the Messiah that day and praised God with her joy and her witness:

38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Anna had a ”prayer-conditioned” life. She prayed every day, all day. In her 84 years of living, she prayed and fasted night and day. That habit prepared her for encountering the miraculous. The minute she saw him, she KNEW.

Anna’s daily acts of service in the Temple put her in the right place at the right time…because she already was in the presence of God. She filled her time of waiting for the consolation of Israel with active service. God is active in our waiting when we open our hearts, our thoughts, and our prayers to his Holy Spirit.

What would happen to you if you prayer-conditioned your life? What difference would it make? Are you putting yourself in the presence of God day and night?

Anna’s story only took three verses of scripture to tell, but she will be remembered forever. As we wait for the second coming of Christ, may we wait with the same patient expectation of encountering the miraculous.

Wait Upon the Lord By Kelley Lynch

Waiting

Posted on by Betsy

Raise your hand if you like to wait! Yeah, me neither.

We all have different tolerance levels when it comes to waiting. I know someone with a very low tolerance for wanting in line. His tolerance is SO low, he actually mentally calculates how many people are in each check-out line at the store, selects the one he thinks is the fastest, changes lines if he spots one moving faster, and then…I’m being serious here…calculates where we WOULD have been if we had chosen a different line.

Nobody likes to wait.

In Psalm 130, the psalmist is also waiting. He describes his waiting period as being in the “depths.” He is crying out to be heard. He begs God to listen:

Psalm 130 (New King James Version)

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.

3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning—
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8 And He shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

Truly, the entire world is waiting right now. We are waiting for this pandemic to be over. We are waiting for life to return to normal. We are waiting to be able to worship together, send our kids off to school, take a trip, have a nice dinner out, hug our grandchildren, and not wake up in the morning feeling afraid.

While we collectively watch for the morning, remember this: with the Lord, there is mercy. He is filled with forgiveness. With him is abundant redemption. He will redeem us. And in his Word, we do hope.

Because we are one day closer to the end of this thing.

Waiting for Morning by Michelle Robertson

When the Sound Returns

Posted on by Betsy

Winds and storms in the Outer Banks are notorious for causing flooding. As my hairdresser explained while holding up a comb, “the Outer Banks are as thin as this comb, with the huge ocean on one side and the huge sound on the other…it is literally THIS thin!” she exclaimed. Indeed, there are parts of Highway 12 south on Hatteras Island where you could throw a football with your feet in the water of one and hit the water in the other. At high tide. If your name is Trace McSorley.

The dynamics of this ribbon of land between two massive bodies of water are especially heightened during hurricanes, Nor’easters, and large storms. The winds are capable of literally pushing the water out of the sound to the point where you can walk across its muddy bottom. The Albemarle and Pamlico sounds are 2,900 square miles of water fed by ten major rivers and numerous creeks. They are large enough that in certain locations, you can stand at one of the few points on the East Coast where you have unobstructed views of the sun setting into water with no land in sight. In fact, the Spanish explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano mistook the Pamlico Sound for the Pacific Ocean when he arrived here. It’s that big.

So the conundrum of the winds pushing all the water out during a storm is this: When it returns, it can come back with such force that it will create massive sound-side floods and high water that can cause more damage than the storm itself.

This is the way we live. This has been part of the cost of the beauty of our location for centuries. We know how it works, and we wait, often for days. I read a meme on Face Book recently that said, “Waiting for a hurricane is like being stalked by a turtle.” It is the not-knowingness of the situation that will slap wear you out.

I think this echoes what many people experience in other ways. A test result is suspicious, so further testing must be done. Wait. A spouse has been unfaithful and the couple doesn’t know if divorce will be the answer. Wait. A terminal diagnosis has been given, with a two-to-four year life sentence. Wait. A young woman receives an engagement ring and begins to plan her wedding and dreams of her married life. Wait. Another finds out she is pregnant. Wait. A military family sends their service member off for months to an unknown destination. Wait.

Psalm 27 (NRSV)

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.

David’s assurance that he would see goodness in the land of the living is a pretty bold statement, considering the fighting going on all around him and the fervor with which his enemies were pursuing him. Just a few sentences earlier, he describes his situation this way:

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.

I would say he was under a fair amount of stress, wouldn’t you? Yet he counsels us to wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart, and WAIT. How can David be so sure? Because David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew the Lord, loved the Lord, danced for the Lord, and had a lot of experience in waiting and being delivered.

So while you wait, do not fear. In this in-between time of not-knowingness, don’t let your heart be troubled, and neither let it be afraid. God is mightier than the besieging army, faster than your foes, and stronger than the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds combined. When the Sound returns, you will see the goodness of the Lord.

The Pamlico Sound bottom, waiting for the water’s return. Photo by Tim Fitch.