Monday, March 4, 2013

Waiting on a Promise


In my Bible study I was posed the question “What promise has God made that you feel you deserve, but have not yet received?”  I admit with humility that as I read the story of Sarah and Abraham I felt frustrated that God has not made me a more specific promise.  I know the promises in the Bible, but sometimes they feel so vague.  Why can’t I be like Sarah?  Why can’t God hear my thoughts and address me with a specific promise about my future?  Maybe just a promise that there is a future to hold onto? 

I feel like I’m levitating above a deep canyon.  All my life I have felt such discernment, holding onto certainty regarding big decisions in my life.  I am only 23, so I realize there haven’t been too many of those decisions yet, but still there have been things that felt big to me.  Life altering decisions like where to go to school, where to live, what to major in. Being told that my life was ending, but knowing that couldn’t be true because God wasn’t done with me yet.  But right now I feel I am supposed to be reaching out, holding onto a promise I’m not even sure of what it actually means.  I’m not falling, I’m not flying, I’m floating in an abyss and I’m not sure where I am supposed to go.  Reaching out grasping onto an invisible hope of an unforeseen future.  How can I do something that seems so confusing?  I know that is the definition of faith, believing in what you can’t see, but I’d rather believe directly in an improbable promise than hope in an undefined one.

In my devotions I was reminded that all business is God’s, but not all of it is mine.  The future is not my secret to be let in on. Knowing my future takes God out of my present.  I am not promised a future, but an eternity and isn't that what truly matters?  God promises to heal the sick and I am commanded to trust in that promise no matter how that promise might be displayed.  

Sarah and Abraham had to wait.  Isaac and Rebekah had to wait.  I have to wait. So, as I am digging wells and waiting, I will actively wait for God to fulfill His promise to me.  Persevering despite any devastation, pain, or hardship.  Knowing that in the end victory awaits me. 

This is something I have been implementing in my life over the past couple weeks and can I just tell you that when you choose patience, God will honor that choice!  I have found myself at peace and experiencing true joy in where my life is at this very moment!  I know that whatever road lies ahead of me is not easy and I have chosen to believe that I don’t know the future because God is not only protecting me, but He is providing for me.  I am not worrying about future pain, but rejoicing in where life takes me at this moment.  I GET to rely fully on God and be alive in today. 

What promise has God made to you that you are waiting for?  How long are you willing to wait?  What are you going to do while you wait?  

1 comment:

  1. KarI, God promised me something that was huge. I would rather not say what it is. The important thing was I believed in the promise. It took six years. Others around me told me I had to accept things as they were and to stop wishing for something that was beyond my control. But I wasn't wishing! I was holding on to God's promise. Oh trust me there were several times over those six years that I wondered if I had gotten it wrong....Was it me or was it really his promise to me. I don't believe at this time in my life my faith was as strong as yours is today, but still I believed God could overpower and use a miracle to change the hearts and minds and situation.

    As I type this on my phone with tears flowing down my face, I am reminded how great our God is.

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