In today's Sunday Edition, I went to church with Becky Johnson on the topic of "waiting", one of the hardest things for Christians in the west. We want everything fast as our American comparison culture teaches us to "take matters into our own hands."
She nails some biblical truths:
Be careful while you are waiting, gods are exposed in the waiting room.
Either I'm God or He is God.
What you can control is comfortable but anything that you can control, can't deliver you.
Don't follow culture while you are waiting. Culture compares timelines, God creates them.
There is purpose in the period between the deliverance and the inheritance. The wilderness was Israel's classroom.
I also love how she describes how Aaron led the Israelites to a golden calf while waiting for Moses to come down with the 10 Commandments. The best part of the waiting room for me is being in His presence...the divine inversion as Dallas Willard would call it.
To round out today's spiritual meal, my worship song pairing for those waiting is Upper Room's cover of Cory Ashbury's Where I Belong, a song I have played 1,000 times in my secret place:
“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV).
Also, after reading this headline this morning Losing their religion: why US churches are on the decline | US news | The Guardian, I think I am going to start bite-sizing more church content and take it to the kids if the kids aren't coming to the church.