Lord, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble. The peoples flee at the thunderous noise; the nations scatter when You rise in Your majesty.. .The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. There will be times of security for you- a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.
Isaiah 33:2-6
This morning, we received some really good news...there is still hope that we can adopt R.! This was wonderful to hear!
But friends, what I really wanted (and expected) was a definitive answer. No maybes! I wanted a firm yes.
Today.
thankyouverymuch
And as I was pondering this (and perhaps pouting, just a little), my friend Meredith gave me her Isaiah commentary to read. She said that as she was praying this morning, the Lord highlighted Isaiah 33 for me.
She couldn't have been more right.
I realized, as I was reading, that I have been treating the King as if He is the one who is supposed to serve my purposes. I have had expectations about timing, what I could handle, etc. and have told the Lord (in no uncertain terms) that I must have an answer soon!
But our God doesn't work like that.
"When the Lord is simply a talisman and human reasoning prevails, destruction follows. When the Lord is not only called king but treated as one, the result is the very deliverance sought by the former methods." (Oswalt, p 590)
My friends, He is the King of all Creation, and I've been trying to tell Him how He ought to take care of things!
This is not only ridiculous, it doesn't work. I can't get anything to happen. Only He can do that.
"He only needs to speak and the whole situation will be dramatically altered...why trust the nations in place of God, when it will take only a simple manifestation of his power to scatter them like chaff." (p. 593)
I have absolutely no doubt that our gracious King cares about R. more than I ever could. I also have no doubt that He is the only One who can bring about the miracle of her adoption. But, instead of demanding how and when this miracle will take place, I am asking Him to teach me what it means to completely trust Him in this. I am asking Him to help me learn to treat Him as the King He really is.
I want to do this His way,
with no expectations.
Except one.
I expect that He will act in accordance with His goodness, His loving-kindness, His mercy, His justice, His Kingship, and His Fatherhood.
And by His grace, this is the only expectation I ever hope to have.
6 comments:
Sarah this is the most beautiful post! I am praying that soon Sweet R. will be able to read this and know that she was loved and prayed for relentlessly!
I love you so much. :) I love this post. You should be my ghost writer. :) I'll just tell you the general idea I want to get across, and you can think it up and write it. :)
Beautiful.
This is so post on for me too!!! Thank you so much Sarah for sharing this!
This is so 'spot' on for me too!! Is what I meant to say! Oh this crazy word check on my computer that changes everything I want to say!! I have to be so careful! Once I almost sent a text to my father in law and called him 'fatty'!! Oh dear!
Sarah -
So good ... He is the king that moves mountains, He is the creator of the universe, He is the king also that loves you deeply. I pray this adoption is part of His plan and the timing is on the close horizon for Him to reveal. Praying for you sweet friend.
Your words made me think of the part of "The Screwtape Letters" where it speaks to our tendency to set up mental timelines. The instructor tells his pupil to push *just* beyond whatever his human has pre-determined he is willing to wait . . . I seem to do that all the time! Thanks for the reminder of Whose hands our adoption timelines are in . . .
Nancy
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