Waiting... I feel like I have been telling many people lately that I am simply waiting- waiting to hear back about jobs, waiting to decide where to live, waiting to know where the Lord is leading. Waiting is not a bad thing, but I know I tend to get impatient when I have to wait. I am constantly reminded by Scripture and encouraging words from friends and family that the Lord uses times of waiting and silence to grow our faith and mold us into the image of God. There is a devotion in "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers that I am always reminded of through times like these. I can't say things as well as he does, so I will just let you read his words:
God's Silence- Then What?
John 11:6: "When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was."
Has God trusted you with His silence- a silence that has great meaning? God's silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible- with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him- He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, "I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead" (Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the "bread of life" (John 6:35).
A wonderful thing about God's silence is that His stillness is contagious- it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, "I know that God has heard me." His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy- silence.
Sometime Oswald is a little too deep for me... but this devotion always teaches me something new. I want to know and understand the Lord more each day. If that is through His silence, I want that. What I am talking about with his silence is not that I never hear him speak to me at all. I am specifically speaking about my current job situation. I have applied in Montgomery and Columbus. I interviewed in Columbus about 2 weeks ago and have not heard back from them. I continue to seek the Lord to know what He has for me... but I don't know the answer. I know He will provide for all my needs. There is no doubt about that! I know He will place me where He wants me. I know He has a place for me. I know He is telling me to wait patiently... in this silence. So here I am-- waiting. Content before the Lord that He is in divine control. I am trusting Him to lead me.
This song really sums up all that I am trying to say today. I pray it will bless you the way it has blessed me.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105
