WORRY & WAITING

     My natural state of mind when I am waiting on something is to worry.  To think about all the tiny details and "what if's" that go with them.  I have found in my abundant experience with anxiety that nothing paralyzes ones heart for trust like worry.  Corrie Ten Boom said, worry is like a rocking chair, you are always moving and never going anywhere.  So true.  In the last post I touched on Isaiah 30:18.  We found that God desire to adhere to us with His grace and mercy and we can adhere to Him in humility and meekness. Producing a life that pours out His love to others.  Today I want to talk about the benefits of not worrying.
     Worry and Joy will never keep company together.  We know what worry looks like but often I think there is confusion between joy and happiness.  I looked up "happy" in the dictionary and the first definition of it is, delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing.  What do we do when our particular things are not fun or good.  Its the bad, hard and ugly that God gives us the part of Himself that is joy.  Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of your life; the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right; and the determined choice to praise God in all things. 
     To settle in assurance of God being in control can be the tricky part.  I find it helps to know who it is that I am settling into.  Isaiah 30:18 paints such a beautiful picture of some of God's heart towards us. 

Therefore the LORD will wait that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all who wait for Him. 

Isaiah 30:18

     When I study God's word I love to look up the meaning of the words in the original language.  I am not highly educated so I don't like to assume that I know fully what a verse is saying with out doing my research.  I am going to lay out some definitions and then restate this verse. 

Wait: Adhere to, hence to await, long tarry

Gracious: bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior

Mercy: to fondle, love, have compassion

Fondle: to handle or touch lovingly, affectionately or tenderly, caress

Justice: verdict 

Blessed: happy 

     The Lord will adhere Himself to you that He may stoop in kindness to you the inferior, as a result He will be exalted, that He may lovingly and tenderly handle you. He is the God of the verdict; Happy are all who adhere themselves to Him. 

     I can settle into that!  The heart of God towards us is so gentle.  You maybe in a time of waiting and feeling like God is doing this "to you."  We see in Is. 30 that He is in fact having you wait "for you."  To those who are in Christ and waiting on Him for something.  Take heart, settle into Him and remember He is for you not against you.  Lets take this opportunity to practice joy in the waiting.

This is my latest Mother's day gift. It now joins me and Jesus in the mornings.