await
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
God will remove our false hopes until we learn to rest in the only true hope that lasts.
At times, waiting on the Lord feels endless. It feels like driving down a winding road in pure darkness, not knowing where you’re going. Other times waiting feels meaningless, like an empty socket void of hope.
We’re all waiting on something— healing, change, maybe some of us just want a do over. We long to feel content and secure. But what is the point? Does God really care? Everything lets you down eventually so God probably will too, right?
While waiting can be frustrating and life circumstances perplexing, the only solution is to live in the fear of the Lord (Pro 19:23). As we grow as Christians, God in His grace will leave us without any ‘feeling’ or other means of security to sustain our hope in order for us to learn to trust in the nature and character of who He is.
Consider the servant Job, an innocent sufferer who lost everything—his family, his career, his possessions. Imagine this time of waiting, this time of hopelessness. Imagine crying out to the Lord in complete desperation only to receive no reply. However, it is through this darkness Job comes to know God in a new light. Though his outer self was wasting away, his inner self was being renewed. God lead Job to a place of greater awe and wonder, a fuller and more intimate understanding of who God is— the Creator of heaven and earth whose knowledge and ways greatly surpass our own (Job 42: 2-3, Is 55: 8-9).
May we learn to trust in the name of our Savior, despite the turmoil under the sun. For Jesus died and rose again giving us a certain future and unshakeable hope. So let us not lose heart, and rest in the assurance of the Spirit within who guarantees our waiting is never in vain (2 Cor. 1:22).
Grace be yours in abundance,
Makenzi
additional reading:
Old Testament: Proverbs 31:30, Ecclesiastes 3:14
New Testament: 2 Cor 5: 1-11, Romans 8:18-25
reflect:
As you dwell on His Word this morning, allow the Spirit to bring to mind the unfailing hope we have in Jesus.
Are you currently hoping in anything other than Christ? How might you walk by faith and not by sight, today?
centering prayer:
LORD, I declare again today, all my hope is in the atoning sacrifice of my Savior Jesus. amen.
