Saturday, January 1, 2011

Wait for it....Wait for it....

Most of us HATE to wait. We want everything ASAP! Instant service, no waiting, serve me now! Very few of us think of waiting as a GOOD thing. But it can be....if it is waiting coupled with anticipation of what is to come!

There are a few of us still around who remember the ketchup commercial that used Carly Simon's song Anticipation as its theme song. "Anticipation. Anticipation. It's making me wait...." (I love another line in that song - these are the good old days...but that's for another blog.) The idea was that this ketchup was worth waiting for! It was just that GOOD!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I have such a strong feeling of anticipation about the coming year. This is very good news to me since looking back at last year's blog, I realized that at this time last year I felt a strong feeling of foreboding...that it would be a rough year. The word I chose to focus on for last year was hope and at times it was a choice, a very difficult choice, to hang on to that hope. This year feels very different. I am almost giddy with excitement of what is to come. I have no idea what it will be, but I know it will be GOOD! My anticipation, my expectation, is that God is about to do something wonderful and I'll get to see it!

There is a second part to that anticipation, however. It is "making me wait"....guess that's what anticipation is all about - waiting. But this waiting isn't a dread or a bore - it's filled with excitement of what is to come! This is like the days leading up to Christmas that are filled with preparation and joy, knowing that an expected celebration is near! It is hope plus a little bit more.

Somehow I came to the following verse in my morning Bible study: Lamentations 3:21-25 (By the way, I NEVER thought I'd find this kind of encouragement in a book called Lamentations, a word whose root means a passionate expression of grief!) Back to the verses: "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him". The New King James versions says the last part a little differently: "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him." That word "wait" is qavah and according to Strong's it means "To wait for, look for, expect, hope." It is the root of the noun tiqvah, "hope" or "expectancy". Qavah expresses the idea of "waiting hopefully." For me, it is as if the "hope" I had last year, sometimes simply as an act of faith that seemed to take everything within me to hold on to, has now been coupled with joy!

The season of waiting and, to be quite honest, sometimes wondering would God really come through for me, has been replaced with the excitement of knowing He will. Now instead of just sitting and hoping, I'm ready to take that hope and RUN with it!

I do not know what your 2010 was like. Perhaps you too have had a season of holding on to hope by the tips of your fingers, wondering if you could really hang on. If so, then I boldly declare the Word of the Lord to you. "
"Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." Isaiah 43:18 - 19

Wait for it...wait for it....don't give up hope! Now this is waiting that I can do!

To those who "discovered" my blog thanks to thehighcalling.org, I'd like to say Welcome! Make yourself at home, check out a few of my more recent posts, and leave a comment or two. I'm glad you're here!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I love it. Everything good in our lives comes after a wait: marriage, babies, homemade cookies, blooming flowers, fruit on the vine ... you name it. I look forward to seeing hat God has planned for His children this year.

David Rupert said...

we do have an aversion to waiting in this society. But good things do come to those that are patient. So, I'll sit back and see how things work out.

Kim said...

I too am a very impatient person and am having to work on my ability to wait. May your 2011 be as you hope for it to be! Blessings!

Ann Kroeker said...

I like the way you dug into that verse and emerged with idea of "waiting hopefully." Going to bed with that sense of "waiting hopefully" for whatever the next morning brings seems like a restful, peaceful way to live each day and night.

I'm so glad to get to know you better!

Ann Kroeker
Content Editor
TheHighCalling.org

Bradley J. Moore said...

I remember that Carly SImon song, too. In fact, I went and downloaded a bunch of her songs from the early 70s and STILL love hearing them when they play on my ipod! And waiting? Well, it comes with life, doesn't it? There's no getting around it. The best thing you are doing is to have a positive, expectant attitude, and as you say: RUN WITH IT!!

God bless.

Deidra said...

I remember that commercial well. I go around singing that song all day...well, at least the part in the commercial.

I share your excitement about 2011. It's a good feeling!

Jennifer @ JenniferDukesLee.com said...

I'm embarrassed to say I'm getting WORSE about waiting as I get older. In Ann Voskamp's new book, "One Thousand Gifts," she cautions us against treating life "as an emergency."

God says in His Word, "Strength will rise as we WAIT upon the Lord." I need His help to take those words to heart!

Thank you for sharing your insights.

Jennifer Dukes Lee
Contributing Editor @ TheHighCalling.org

Kelly Sauer said...

Your first line - it totally reminds me of that verse in Hebrews, about anyone who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. Too often, we seek Him out of duty and wait on Him only because we HAVE to, but we don't really believe that He will reward that...

Beautiful, encouraging post, Donna.