Waiting on God #strengthwillrise

"Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psalm 27:14)

I'm no exegetical scholar (or an English major), but the way the New King James Version words and punctuates this scripture is intriguing to me, and naturally begs to be broken down and studied. As I meditated on it, one of those moments came where God opened up another passage in my mind. More on that in a moment. But for now I'll break down what I know to be true about this and other scriptures on waiting, and tell you what it means and how to do it.

When David says "wait on the Lord" the NKJV follows the statement with a colon; the punctuation indicates that the following statement describes what the first statement includes. Waiting on the Lord doesn't mean to just sit and twiddle thumbs, or pray and hope something happens. I have a good friend who told me he was waiting on God to bring the right church family to him. "The ball's in your court," he said to God. That isn't how you wait on the Lord.

In context, the verse I'm dissecting is speaking of waiting on God in times of conflict, of struggle, when enemies surround, when family leaves you high and dry. I have my own personal struggle going on in which I need God's guidance and strength. I only breakdown this verse because it spoke to me about how to wait on God in the midst of the fight.

Since "wait on the Lord" is followed by a colon, "be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart:" is what it means to wait on God. It's not passive, according to scripture. The process is: you take what you know about God's word; you practice it; you obey it; and you do it all while employing good courage. What does "good courage" mean? The NASB translates it: "be strong and let your heart take courage." Other versions mention a stout heart. When soldiers go into war, they say "you do the thing that scares the hell outta you, then you get the courage." Waiting and obeying with good courage means putting away fear and replacing it with prayer and active obedience.

The next step in the waiting game is "he shall strengthen your heart." By obeying and praying and walking through the struggle, even if you have to do it dozens or hundreds of times, you become strong; you become a hulk! It's the process that makes you strong. Which brings me to that other passage of scripture I was going to mention. "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5) You can see the perseverance: the waiting on God actively, with courage; brings our character more in line with God's will; and when we see the results, we respond with hope in future times. And the one who gives us the power to obediently and actively wait, is the Holy Spirit: who we know lives in our hearts.

After "He shall strengthen your heart" comes another colon. This means the next statement is unpacking what it means when God strengthens your heart. It's another command to wait on God! Meaning, once you become strong from waiting, you'll have the courage to say again, that you will indeed wait on God. And the process repeats itself. Always waiting on the Lord is the theme of a Christian's life. It always produces results, in times of peace or struggle!

Kindness in the Face of Conflict

 

"And be you kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32)


Kindness is one of the most valuable, but perhaps, overlooked tools in a Christian's utility belt for dealing with conflict. In family, in church politics, in marriage, even at work, conflict will arise. No matter how well we conduct ourselves, no matter how well we behave with holiness and our faith in mind, no matter how spotless our work ethic or how gracious our treatment of family or spouse, at some point a conflict will come: somebody will have a problem with us. The initial response of a Believer should not be to throw off the gloves and prepare to defend ourselves. The initial response should be to consider how to deal with the conflict in a kind way.

The first issue of being kind is to recognize that most of us are not naturally that way. The human heart, according to scripture, is fallen because of sin. The result is that the heart is "deceitful above all things" (Jeremiah 17:9). We are new creations in Christ, but because of the sinful nature that still fights for dominance (called "the flesh"), we have the propensity to be envious, hateful, discordant, contentious, even in some cases murderous (Galatians 5:19-21). If we aren't continually feeding our Spiritual nature with God's Word and practically obeying it, our natural response to conflict or accusation (and even abuse), is to be defensive and strike back. We want to prove we are in the right, and we want those in conflict with us to acknowledge our rightness.

There is a biblical element to a Christian being shown to be without blame, and therefore putting his detractors to shame. But that is for God to do, and only our fruit in any given situation can allow Him to bring that rightness and shame to the detractor's attention. Putting our detractor to shame is a redemptive work, not with the object of mere shame for our detractors as an end. The shame they are to experience is redemptive, with the goal that they feel the presence of sin in their hearts, and hear  the Holy Spirit exclaiming to them that the sin can be washed and taken under control by the new nature, in Christ.

If we are to respond to conflict with kindness, then knowing our own wretchedness at heart and the forgiveness and cleansing of that wretchedness is of great importance. Had Jesus not given us a new nature, his Holy Spirit, and the instruction of His Word, we would be as angry and contentious as the one in conflict with us, and we would not just be defending ourselves from toxicity or abuse. We would be provoking and abusing and conflicting with others on a regular basis. I've learned this the hard way. But to be kind in conflict requires an acute understanding of our sinfulness, which diminishes through time and Godliness, but continues to rear its ugly head every day of our lives. Every time we sin, as we confess our sins (and even when we refuse to), God is continually overlooking, forgiving, and washing our sins from us. He does so for the sake of his Son, Jesus Christ, who died to put to death the conflict between ourselves and God.

If we are to react to conflict or abuse with kindness, we are to be constantly premeditated in our awareness that God is kind to us when we sin. "Remember, oh Lord, your tender mercies and your loving-kindness; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to your mercy remember You me for your goodness' sake, oh Lord." (Psalm 25:6-7) Meditating on our own position of forgiveness for the sake of God's goodness will help us to react kindly in conflict, again, for the sake of His goodness, and to enhance our testimony that he has indeed saved us.

So when we come into conflict (which I find happens most often in marriage, work, and family), and especially when the conflict seems to be of the toxic or abusive kind--rather it seems to come from biased, unfair, or misconstrued perception of our own actions--in kindness, we should decide whether the criticism is warranted. We do this by being "swift to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry" (James 1:19). After, we should employ kindness in our response. If the criticism is warranted, we should acknowledge our faults, "with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:2-3). If the criticism is unwarranted? As I see it, you cannot do anything with unwarranted criticism, as you cannot pretend to apologize, or simply say "I'm sorry you feel that way." My wife has many times reminded me that saying "I'm sorry you feel that way," is not a real apology. But in keeping with kindness, "a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1). Perhaps the kindest thing to do in a situation where conflict arises from false criticism or unfair assumptions about your actions, is to agree to disagree, and lovingly set boundaries between yourself and the person in question.

Kindness doesn't always resolve conflict. And a sort of false kindness in which one always capitulates and admits to wrongdoing not really done, can lead to resentment and bitterness on the part of the one admitting wrong. But keeping an attitude of kindness in response to conflict will most always, at best, diffuse an angry situation, and at worse set a Holy, loving boundary between the conflicting people. Both promote peace and growth in a Believer's life, and both are a God-honoring way to seek resolution.

Rejection

Rejection is the scariest word in the bible. Did you know you can be rejected by God? We've all experienced rejection in some form or another, and it can be agonizing. Especially when you see others being accepted by the one who rejected you. Sometimes you're rejected because you did the wrong thing, such as being fired from a job. You have to live with the regret of losing your job while at the same time still being friends with the people you worked with, seeing them keep their jobs because they did the right thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how it will be on the day of Judgment. Many will be rejected by God himself because their deeds were evil, and they refused to come into the light lest their deeds be made known. The bible says that in the lake of fire, those who don't know God will be tormented in the presence of Jesus and the Holy Angels. I don't know about you, but torment seems all the worse knowing I will be able to see Jesus and the Holy Angels enjoying righteousness and fellowship with God, while I suffer unimaginably. This is my motivation for becoming a Christian. I didn't want to pay for my sins, especially when Christ offers free salvation for those who simply believe.

Those who have accepted Christ will in no way be rejected, no matter how faulty they are. If they believe in the Lord and confess with their mouth, they will be saved. The next step is to pray and grow in faith, and to abstain from sin. But those who keep putting Jesus off have no hope to lean on, for tomorrow is promised to none of us. Get with Jesus while he can still be found, so you don't have to suffer rejection. The worst rejection is being told by Jesus "away from me you evil-doer, I never knew you," while hearing him say to others "well done, good and faithful servant." If you live in sin and refuse to open the door of your heart to Jesus, this certainly will be your reality.