Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father lift us up amidst our struggles and suffering. Father, as we are weary and tired during the hard days and seasons, may we entrust ourselves to you, to your Will, in all things. We so easily and so often forget you and try to fix things in our life on our own. But you have never forgotten us. You wait with us, even if we are not waiting with you, waiting on you. Father, in the name of Jesus, by the Spirit, open our eyes to the unending help you have offered us. Give us peace and rest Father! Amen.
Your Morning Song: "Clumsy" by Chris Rice
Your Morning Scripture: Isaiah 40:28-31
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.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might
he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they 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.
...
My 2-year-old daughter Willa has been sick for the last few days. We've washed sheets and blankets and pajamas. We've changed more diapers than we can count. We're out of liners for our diaper pail. And we've both got desitin under our fingernails.
I'm not saying any of this for pity. It's just the reality of having young kids. But I would take it even further. It is a part of all of our lives, to struggle, to be weary. It is true for all of us. All will struggle, and be weary, and live some days, weeks, months, and seasons on the edge of exhaustion.
But not all will wait on the Lord.
Why is the right response to hardship and weariness and suffering to wait on the Lord? To wait on God is to entrust ourselves and our situation to Him. And then to do the next right thing, the next good thing, the next needed thing. As a parent, this has gotten me through all the sick kid moments. And many others.
Instead of wallowing in self-pity (tempting), or holding my situation against God, or giving up, I simply say to God, "I trust you. And I will put my life in your hands. Whatever comes next belongs to you."
I hope that you have done this, are doing this, will do this. And if you're anything like me, you'll have to do it many, many times.
The suffering of God's kids is filled with all manner of voices saying in a worshipful chorus, "we trust you!" We should not give in to despair, or desperation, or bitterness, or weariness. Instead, we must wait on our God in prayer, in His Word, in song, all with His people. And leave it all to Him and His timing.
Let's wait on God and just do the next thing that He has placed before us. And He will guide us, comfort us, encourage, and give us His strength. He has promised that He will help us, and I trust Him. No matter what's under my fingernails.
