“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” ~~Corrie Ten Boom

“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.”  ~~Isaiah 40:31

I am currently in a season, a seemingly long season of waiting, and as I wait, Abba Father is faithfully teaching me how-to-wait on Him. It ain’t easy, nor is it by any means comfy. In fact, half the time I don’t even know how to feel about, and yet, I wait.

I came across the following blog from Ray Ortlund in the midst of this “wait” and as I know God is always present-tense working in our collective lives, I share it with you in assurance that He will speak to you wherever you are as you too “wait”.

“Trusting God is not comfortable.  It doesn’t belong in a Hallmark card picture – a colorful valley, a quaint village, a church steeple, with a sentimental slogan.  Trusting God can be extremely uncomfortable, even painful.

Rabbi David Kimchi, one of the early Hebrew lexicographers, defined the verb “wait” in Isaiah 40:31 with reference to the medieval German verb for “twist.”  That is, waiting on the Lord can involve tension and pressure and stress.  How could it be otherwise?  Waiting is pent-up irresolution.  It is not easy to wait trustingly for the Lord:

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, . . . so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.”  ~~Psalm 123:2

“My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”  ~~Psalm 130:6

“I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.”  Psalm 143:6

My point is this: You may be going through hell right now.  You may be bewildered, gasping, frightened.  But that doesn’t mean you aren’t trusting God.  It might mean you are trusting God.

Isaiah really understood something.  He understood that it’s in this tension that our strength is renewed.  How so?  There is something about coming to the end of ourselves and our own strength and wisdom – that’s when our hearts finally crack open, and the love of God pours in.

When we have nothing of our own left, when nothing will suffice but that which is directly and immediately of God, that’s when God alone is our sufficiency, and we find Him to be so.  He’s worth the wait.”1

Stephanie Paul

Stephanie Paul, wife and mother of two grown children. An “instrument of change” in the Redeemer’s Hand, in the lives of wounded and hurting women. Currently serving as a part of the Addiction Recovery Team at America’s Keswick as Woman of Character Program Director.

1 http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/rayortlund/2012/06/25/trusting-god-is-not-easy/