Waiting

Have you ever had to walk by faith? Have you ever felt the Lord lead you clearly in a direction, but not everything comes together as soon as you think it will?

It is 4 weeks till we leave here and I have been somewhat anxious to know where we will be living when we get back to the U.S. It's sort of a "hanging" feeling to know that you're leaving your home, but you don't know exactly where your next one will be. Too many times in this journey, I've felt like Abraham. As I began thinking about it the other day, a song came to my mind from WAY back in high school that we sang in choir. It was very pretty. "Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? How great is the everlasting Lord!" I sang as much as I could remember then I picked up my Bible to read my devotions for the day. I was astonished when the passage of scripture was Isaiah 40 and I read this:

21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

The really cool part!


27 ¶ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? [I like the way the NIV says it - which is what I read: "Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God'?" - For me it was being tempted to think that God may not have a place for us to stay.]
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. [part of the song that came to my mind from YEARS ago]
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait [That's what we're doing in this whole process] upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I read it to Doug and I said, "I think He's trying to tell me He's got everything under control!" It keeps coming back to me to worship the Lord while I'm waiting and do what I know I'm to do (packing and getting ready for the trip) until He brings the answer. It's stretching my faith a little more than I would like, but I know it's for my good and His glory! So as I'm filling suitcases and packing stuff away, I'm going to try to sing and praise Him - for He is worthy - and let Him worry about the details of providing shelter for us.