Waiting for What?

Every month I have fewer and fewer posts. I post more when I'm unhappy. It's kind of like how Mary J. Blige's BEST work is from when she was being cheated on and quite possibly...beaten. The music was awesome when her life was in shambles. Likewise, when my dating life was ridiculous, and my health was failing my blog soared, but now...

To summarize I am: (1) listless, (2) feeling directionless at the moment, and (3) not all that upset about it. It's a kind of dangerous complacence.

And it's not just my blog. It feels like my whole life is in a holding pattern, as if I am waiting for something to happen. Something to inspire me, something to change me...What am I waiting for? Is waiting always OK? When is waiting wrong?

Well, there are two situations that I think can be used to (potentially) answer these questions. Both situations deal with WAITING ON THE LORD.

Waiting on the Lord when:

There's Nothing More You Can Do

2 Chronicles 20 - This is a classic Bible story (well...they're ALL pretty classic, given how old they are, but this one is POPULAR).

Background: King Jeoshaphat is about to be attacked (and most definitely rocked) by a LOT of soldiers, far more than he and the Israeli army can defeat. The situation looks super bleak. There's really nothing he can do, except seek God's help (2 Chronicles 20: 3-4)

Once King J has gathered all the people together who are unified in their worship, he spits out an AMAZING prayer. I call it "The Prayer of Expectation." I posted another blog today about expectations, and it relates to the fact that we can wrongly expect certain behavior out of people who are not emotionally/mentally wired to meet our expectation. Thanks be to God, we don't have that problem with Him. The Lord has set precedents of His power and love, which we can draw on to fuel our expectations of him. See 2 Chronicles 20:5-12 for the whole prayer. My concentration is on verse 12 and 13:

"...For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

This is a hardcore declaration of faith and trust in the Lord. He's saying: "We've got nothing. We're looking to you to deliver us." He puts 100% of the responsibility for his and the people's deliverance on the Lord. This is what it means to "Give it to God." In my opinion. Waiting like this is A-OK.

The rest of the story: God honored King J's prayer and caused confusion and craziness in the enemy camp. They all turned on each other and killed each other. The Israelites never had to lift a finger to fight.


There's Something You Can Do

Background: Jesus has just departed for Heaven. He basically told the disciples not to leave Jerusalem but wait there for the Holy Spirit, which would give them power to fulfill the mission He set out for them.

Acts 1:9-11

Jesus left and the disciples were there just standing around, gazing into heaven. And the two men (most likely angels, based on their choice of outfit), let them know that Jesus is coming back the same way He left: suddenly and without warning. You don't want to spend the wait time standing around.

The disciples surely didn't stand around; they immediately started setting up their ministry. First order of business: replacing Judas Iscariot. They held regular church meetings, which is why they were all together in the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

So now we, also, wait. Wait for the coming of the Lord, but we can't just stand around gazing up into heaven...waiting for Christ to crack the cloud. We have to be about our Father's business. What does He want YOU to do? Got me! I'm still not sure what He wants ME to do (specifically--I know in general, see What's My Purpose). Maybe the more I pray about it...the more I blog about it, the sooner clarity will come.


Thoughts?


Well for the blog I have to just TYPE (regardless of my complacence).
And for the rest of my life...my eyes are upon the Lord.