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"Wait," you say, Lord? Wait still, again?
I found myself complaining to God, "But I
have been
waiting for so long! I really need direction
now, Lord. Are
you sure you want me to wait some more?"
I'd already waited--patiently, I
thought--for six or seven
months for an answer that I thought I needed
then
when I first surrendered the situation to
God.
Long ago, I had committed to memory Isaiah
26:3 "Thou will
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee;
because he trusteth in thee." I trusted God
and had experienced
that perfect peace, but I had been waiting
for so long! I
didn't seem to be going anywhere, just
spinning my
wheels and making ruts.
Well, maybe my peace wasn't perfect. Did
that mean I didn't
trust God completely? Did it mean that my
mind wasn't
"stayed on Him," and that maybe it had
drifted and
was "stayed" on my problem instead? In that
case, I needed reassurance. I needed my
strength renewed, and
the best place I knew of to look for
"revival" was God's Word.
Turning the pages of my much-marked Bible, I
stopped at
Psalm 27:14 again. According to the date
recorded in the margin,
I had passed that way nearly a year ago and
set up a road sign
for future walks that way.
"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and
he shall
strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the
Lord." I had also
cross-referenced it to Isaish 40:31, "They
that wait upon the
Lord shall mount up with wings as the eagle;
they shall run and
not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
It is really fantastic (fascinating to say
the least!) how the
Word can speak to our hearts--just
what we need, when we
need it! My daily devotions for several days
had been in
Numbers, and I had grossly underestimated
that book's
ability to minister to me.
As I read Numbers 9, the very familiar
account of the
Lord's traveling directions began to unfold.
God instructed
Israel to "rest in their tents"as long as the cloud abode upon
the tabernacle. Now, I had been acquainted with that story since
childhood; but suddenly it exploded in my
mind and spirit.
When the cloud lingered upon the tabernacle,
the children
of Israel "kept the charge of the Lord and
journeyed not."
The explosion in my mind and spirit began to
settle and take form.
I could see my house nestled in a fleecy
white cloud, saying to me
"keep the charge of the Lord and journey
not." In other words,
"Keep on waiting until the cloud is taken
up, then follow me as the
cloud moves."
I must not resume my "journey" (or make any
major moves)
until the Lord says so, lest I go on my own
and lose my way.
Thus, my prayer changed to "Lead on, Lord,
or I stay whether
it be 'two days or a month or a year' as you
told the children
of Israel. As I stay, you are designing a
tapestry for me while
I wait that I can use in my next 'tent of waiting.' Either way,
I'll be with You--that cloud represents your
presence;
and as long as it 'tarries' here, I'll
be content to rest in my tent.
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