Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take
courage; Yes, wait for the Lord!
Life is full of starts and stops, and intersections. But the part of this journey of life that I
find the most difficult is when I’m sitting at the red light, waiting, waiting,
and waiting some more. How we wait,
tells a lot about us. Do we roll up to
the red light of life and turn on music, finding this a perfect time to praise
God? Do we pull out the cell phone
because we can’t stand to have a moment that isn’t filled with some kind of
noise, chatter, and busyness? Do we pull
up to the red light, rev up our engine, eager to feel the wind in our hair with
a need for speed, that says we have not yet learned to stop and listen? Do we roll up to the red light, staring down the light as if by some force of
our will we can make it change only to find ourselves more and more impatient
and feeling like -- somehow -- red lights only happen to us?
Yeah, I’ve been all of those things … wait did I just say I
HAVE been all those things? Correction,
I AM all those things. I have sat at red
lights waiting on God, crying out to God … even willing the light to change, for
God to open doors, wondering impatiently why God is having me hurry up and wait. Do you see my hands gripping the wheel of
life? Yeah, suppose that’s the problem?
You see, it’s in the waiting that we truly learn that we
are not in control of the intersections God has us sitting at. We aren’t in control of others around us, we
can’t manipulate the moment when the light changes and God says “go!” Oh sure, we can go ahead of time, and I have,
only to learn its dangerous, if not deadly stuff, so I have learned to yield to
the moment … but I admit, I’ve not always done so with grace.
One thing I know for sure.
Until we learn that God alone is in control of our waiting and we lean
into the moment and learn to worship . . . God will have us at many more intersections,
waiting at red lights.
This is where I am, in life, right now. Sitting at a red light … my car fully loaded
with everything I need for the journey, that, oh by the way Lord, YOU sent me
on. Others are in the vehicle with me, I
am not alone, but somehow since I am at the helm, I feel like I have to make
something happen. One minute I worry
others will bail and find a vehicle that is moving, going somewhere. The next minute I relax and say “Lord, this
is all about YOU if You have me waiting…I will wait.” I turn my favorite worship CD on and praise
His mighty name. After the first song,
in my impatience, I find myself clicking my nails on the wheel, or rolling my
eyes in disbelief that nothing, absolutely NOTHING is moving. The next minute I am reminded about my lack
of trust in the waiting and I submit, surrender, take my hands off the wheel
and relax knowing God will stir something up, and the light will change. It’s hard to be strong, in fact, it goes
against our humanness and it takes courage to say despite it all, I will wait
on the Lord and do so gracefully! So, in
my resolve, I declare “You, precious Lord are in the waiting…help me with my
impatience, teach me more about your silence, and fill me with the grace, to
wait with JOY being my only response.”
