The means to an end.
I've learned so much in this season of my life of how waiting is never is vain. It is worth it, because God is in control and working in & through me in it all like never before. Because of those facts, I'm seeing this season as not an end, but a means to an end. A waiting season generally comes between two rather large events, a time where God must mold, shape, and change us in preparation for what He has in store for us in the next season.
A couple of weeks ago (before my hiatus in Mississippi), God gave me Psalm 40, and the words have touched my heart as I've been walking through some intense waiting. If you want to catch up, click here. Today, I want to share the next couple of phrases that have propelled me into a kind of new-wind to keep waiting, keep hoping, and keep trusting through it all. My prayer is that it speaks to you as well.
...and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
Here, the psalmist's waiting involved a need of rescuing, which God brought in His perfect timing (beginning of verse 2: "He drew me up"). But I love these next few phrases, and how they take us into what followed the waiting & the rescuing. God didn't just lift Him up out of the pit & the bog to place him upon the same path that led him there in the first place; no! God brought him to higher ground, establishing him with secure steps so that the pit & bog might be avoided altogether on this new path.
You see, God never uproots us--whether from a good or bad place--without establishing us again. Where problems arise is when we try to crawl out of the pit & bog on our own, when we try to find that rock ourselves, or trust our feet to be secure on their own. We cannot do it; it is God's job, not ours. This is why there is usually a waiting season between being in the pit & the bog and being rescued. Sometimes, and I have especially seen this, God needs us to get out of the way, to stop trying to do His job, to stop trying to plan out my life after this season, etc. A waiting season will accomplish this, if we yield ourselves to the fact that He is sovereign over it all. A waiting season clearly reminds us of our own weaknesses, so that we learn to relinquish any ounce of control we think we have, and just let God lead us. Again, it all boils down to trust. Do I trust Him to draw me out? Do I trust Him to make my steps secure?
The second truth here is that this is a new reality. The psalmist's life-and our own-will never be the same after this season. It simply cannot happen. Just because the waiting season is over, doesn't mean that all will go back to normal; no, there is a new normal being introduced through all of this! And it starts with a song, a new song, a song of PRAISE! If we allow God to work in us during this season, He will fully transform us into His new creation.
As I read this again a few days ago, God reminded me of His words which He spoke to Israel through His prophet Isaiah. In the midst of suffering, which their sins had brought upon them & their land, He called out to them, reminding them that this was not the end, but instead a means to a new beginning for them:
Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth,
do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert...
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise (vs 18-21).
During this time in Israel's history, God had to take them completely out of all they knew & trusted in, in order to gain their full attention. In a word, one that He recently reminded me of, He had to prune them.
His people had forsaken them by their actions, yet they still claimed Him by their words. Thereby, God's character was being tarnished because of their sin. They had thus stopped bearing fruit for His name & fame, as the words in Isaiah prove was the whole point. Even the fruit that they had produced was rotting away as they became stagnant in their own evil ways. Cue Jesus' words on this in John 15:
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit (vs 2).
As I rediscovered this truth a few days ago, I was floored as the Spirit reminded me that this was the point. The Lord is using my season of waiting to do some serious pruning.
Pruning what was is a necessary step of preparation before being able to produce what is to come. Without pruning, there is no new fruit. Resisting this step will result in major spiritual burnout, which is why I'm so thankful that God reminded me of this truth. I can recognize just what things, people, and places that He is stripping away from me, not because He is finished with them nor with me, but because He is doing a NEW thing. His grace has given me eyes to perceive it, in the words of Isaiah. I do not see what is coming yet, but I wait in expectation for it. Are we allowing this often painful process of pruning to take place during our own seasons of waiting? If we do, I promise that His peace transcends all understanding, and will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord (philippians 4:4-7).
"Faith never denies reality, but leaves room for God to create a new reality." --Cymbala
This song has really been speaking to me lately in regards to this season that I am in. The words remind me of how worth it all of this is. Sure, I could just wait it out & see how worth it all is later, in hindsight, but God has planted in me a desire to see it now, to sense the worthiness of waiting as I wait. All the pruning and the pain is from Him, sanctified by His hand, and it is all somehow glorifying to Him, even if I cannot see the fruit yet. I choose to rest in that truth, in expectation of what is coming soon--the new season, the new fruit. It propels me to keep on trusting in the waiting; even when I cannot see the path, I can see HIS light shining through, and that is what I pray and believe that others are seeing in all of this--and that, by seeing, they will put their trust in the Lord as well. He is so worth it all.
"But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait on the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me."
Micah 7:7
A couple of weeks ago (before my hiatus in Mississippi), God gave me Psalm 40, and the words have touched my heart as I've been walking through some intense waiting. If you want to catch up, click here. Today, I want to share the next couple of phrases that have propelled me into a kind of new-wind to keep waiting, keep hoping, and keep trusting through it all. My prayer is that it speaks to you as well.
...and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
Here, the psalmist's waiting involved a need of rescuing, which God brought in His perfect timing (beginning of verse 2: "He drew me up"). But I love these next few phrases, and how they take us into what followed the waiting & the rescuing. God didn't just lift Him up out of the pit & the bog to place him upon the same path that led him there in the first place; no! God brought him to higher ground, establishing him with secure steps so that the pit & bog might be avoided altogether on this new path.
You see, God never uproots us--whether from a good or bad place--without establishing us again. Where problems arise is when we try to crawl out of the pit & bog on our own, when we try to find that rock ourselves, or trust our feet to be secure on their own. We cannot do it; it is God's job, not ours. This is why there is usually a waiting season between being in the pit & the bog and being rescued. Sometimes, and I have especially seen this, God needs us to get out of the way, to stop trying to do His job, to stop trying to plan out my life after this season, etc. A waiting season will accomplish this, if we yield ourselves to the fact that He is sovereign over it all. A waiting season clearly reminds us of our own weaknesses, so that we learn to relinquish any ounce of control we think we have, and just let God lead us. Again, it all boils down to trust. Do I trust Him to draw me out? Do I trust Him to make my steps secure?
The second truth here is that this is a new reality. The psalmist's life-and our own-will never be the same after this season. It simply cannot happen. Just because the waiting season is over, doesn't mean that all will go back to normal; no, there is a new normal being introduced through all of this! And it starts with a song, a new song, a song of PRAISE! If we allow God to work in us during this season, He will fully transform us into His new creation.
As I read this again a few days ago, God reminded me of His words which He spoke to Israel through His prophet Isaiah. In the midst of suffering, which their sins had brought upon them & their land, He called out to them, reminding them that this was not the end, but instead a means to a new beginning for them:
Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth,
do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert...
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise (vs 18-21).
During this time in Israel's history, God had to take them completely out of all they knew & trusted in, in order to gain their full attention. In a word, one that He recently reminded me of, He had to prune them.
His people had forsaken them by their actions, yet they still claimed Him by their words. Thereby, God's character was being tarnished because of their sin. They had thus stopped bearing fruit for His name & fame, as the words in Isaiah prove was the whole point. Even the fruit that they had produced was rotting away as they became stagnant in their own evil ways. Cue Jesus' words on this in John 15:
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit (vs 2).
As I rediscovered this truth a few days ago, I was floored as the Spirit reminded me that this was the point. The Lord is using my season of waiting to do some serious pruning.
Pruning what was is a necessary step of preparation before being able to produce what is to come. Without pruning, there is no new fruit. Resisting this step will result in major spiritual burnout, which is why I'm so thankful that God reminded me of this truth. I can recognize just what things, people, and places that He is stripping away from me, not because He is finished with them nor with me, but because He is doing a NEW thing. His grace has given me eyes to perceive it, in the words of Isaiah. I do not see what is coming yet, but I wait in expectation for it. Are we allowing this often painful process of pruning to take place during our own seasons of waiting? If we do, I promise that His peace transcends all understanding, and will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord (philippians 4:4-7).
"Faith never denies reality, but leaves room for God to create a new reality." --Cymbala
This song has really been speaking to me lately in regards to this season that I am in. The words remind me of how worth it all of this is. Sure, I could just wait it out & see how worth it all is later, in hindsight, but God has planted in me a desire to see it now, to sense the worthiness of waiting as I wait. All the pruning and the pain is from Him, sanctified by His hand, and it is all somehow glorifying to Him, even if I cannot see the fruit yet. I choose to rest in that truth, in expectation of what is coming soon--the new season, the new fruit. It propels me to keep on trusting in the waiting; even when I cannot see the path, I can see HIS light shining through, and that is what I pray and believe that others are seeing in all of this--and that, by seeing, they will put their trust in the Lord as well. He is so worth it all.
"But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait on the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me."
Micah 7:7
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