I will wait for the Lord to help us ...
My only hope is in him.
Isaiah 8:17
As a pastor, I've stood in hundreds of hospital rooms. Sometimes in these rooms, our primary hope seems to be in the doctors. Other times, I've been in hospital rooms where the heartbeat is fading, humans/doctors have done all they can, and our only hope is in the Lord.
Have you ever reached a point when your only hope is in the Lord?
Now here comes the challenging part of the verse: "I will wait for the Lord to help us."
Ouch! I don't know about you, but patience isn't my greatest virtue -- especially in times of trial. I want immediate. I want now. I want answers.
But in a strange way, it's actually a gift that we occasionally get to that point of desperation. Why? Because it is only when we are hanging by our last thread that we get to the faith-transforming (or faith-busting) point where our only hope is in the Lord.
Until we get to that point, our faith -- in some ways -- is just theorhetical. It may be wonderful, warm, and friendly, but until we're down to our last thread, we won't know if we will stand or fall.
Now, if we fall, God will pick us back up again. That's grace! But here's a painful Advent Adventure: What if we prayed for the arrival of circumstances that will bring us to our last thread?
Ouch. No ... we don't have to pray for it. In this world of sin and death, those challenges will come. So pray instead that you and God together may use every obstacle to help you put your trust fully in him.
In Christ's Love,
a guy that wants to run
the hundred meter hurdles
(I want to be concious of
God's daily help in managing
the manageable hurdles
so that I'm ready for the high jumps)
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