“Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Genesis 21:6-7
As I think back on my 7 decades and take a look back at the challenges, failures and victories of my life’s journey, I recall many prayers I'm thankful the Lord chose to set aside; wait or no. Instead, He gave me what I really needed. And how He answered my prayers, brought me even greater long-term happiness and more deep-down joy. How quickly we forget when His answers were better than our selfish requests. When we're in the midst of a trial or a time of waiting, it can be difficult to have that perspective, to ask for His guidance. What can we do when we find ourselves in such a season?
As we read in Genesis, long after Abraham and Sarah had given up hope of experiencing the joy of having children, they held their very own son in their arms. It would have been easy for them to lose hope when the fulfillment of the promise didn't come about in the way or the timing they expected. But their trust in the Lord went deeper than their human perspective, deeper than their doubts.
Chaos in Haiti is still festering. His children continue to seek His wisdom. We are truly in a season of waiting. And you know that waiting is a tool that is difficult to find in our wheelhouse; for some of us. So, what do we while waiting? First, we can ask the Lord for sustaining strength and His divine wisdom. That probably sounds like a canned response to many a problem, but way too often we forget that we can't do everything on our own. We need divine help from one day to the next. We also need His supernatural strength and divine wisdom to wait for God's plan to unfold. Good things come to those who wait.
And one more thing, to my fellow Lutherans, we need to forgive ourselves for being shortsighted and for missing the big picture. Forgive yourself for clinging when you should have released. Forgive yourself for failing to be excited about what's ahead when God's plan doesn't include your plans. Repent of your failings, receive God's forgiveness, and then forgive yourself.
I've felt the weight of bricks on my shoulders removed at times during my lifetime by placing my faults at the foot of the Cross: the last one we forgive on this earth is ourselves. God forgives you, so why don't you? In time, our Haitian brothers and sisters and you and I will come to realize, as Abraham did, that in God's appointed plan, the best is yet to come.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay