182. SITTING STILL

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 3)

Sometimes, sitting still will not make sense to those around you. People are busy seeing what they can get for themselves or how far and fast they can advance themselves. But for me, the FOUNDATION is more important than the FINISH and I want to make sure the foundation is solid.

I am not just interested in SUCCESS. I am interested in SUSTAINABILITY. I am not so much about QUANTITY as I am about QUALITY. I am not so much interested in getting ‘there’ and WHEN, ‘(there’ being that imaginary idealistic place we all dream of and for which many justify the need to bend corners), as I am interested in HOW I get there. See, for me, the PROCESS is more important than the PRODUCT.

So you’ve reached your DESTINATION or you are close to arriving there but ask yourself, did you enjoy the JOURNEY?

I do not have on my mind, “How do I get there, how do I get there, how do I get there!” as much as I consider, “What is God doing with me now? Where does he want to take me? What can I learn from this or that and how can I use my situation to change me for the better?” Yes, the journey with all its ups and downs can be beautiful!

The Bible says in Luke 12:23 that “The life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment” and I take that to mean that life is more than just chasing after stuff. Sometimes God requires us to just sit still so that we can meditate on him and who he is.

Whereas the world says, “Come on or you will be left behind!” or “What are you waiting for? Are you even in the race?”, I hear God say, “WAIT on me my child. I will renew your strength. I will give you beauty for ashes. I will make you run and not be weary… in MY timing. So for now, do as Joseph did all those years when he was imprisoned in Egypt before God elevated him and sit still.”

It is possible to want more for your life but yet to be calm and content at the place that God will have you to be in a given moment. It is possible to sit still while you wait on God and not run crazily around like mad headless chickens, trying to get your hands on all that you can.

Without a doubt, I will get where I am meant to be when God intends for me to be there. I will amass all that I am intended to amass and not a drop more or less, based on what God decides to give me.

He is the Potter. I am merely the clay.

(Written on 3rd December, 2013)

ADDENDUM

I found the poem below in 2014 when I must have felt God was telling me again to WAIT. In 2018, I poured out my heart to him again, asking him to let me know if he intended to grant a particular desire of my heart or not.

I told him I just wanted to know, as I did not want to waste time hoping for something if he did not plan to grant it. I told him that if it was not his will, that I would cry occasionally and feel sad but that I knew that I would be okay in life because I had Jesus and I was convinced he could get me through this life, even if it meant that I remained single all the days of my life. I just wanted to know if he intended to grant me a spouse because hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12) and so I just wanted to know if permanent singleness was something I should just come to terms with and accept and learn to live with.

About one week later, I got a resounding answer. I kept hearing one word repeatedly, over the Christian radio programme or from a Preacher or from a brother in the Lord who had not a clue what I had prayed but sent me a message and from other sources. This one word was totally unexpected and took me by surprise.

When I heard it about the third or fourth time in the space of a few days, it grabbed my attention and I was like, what is God trying to tell me? WAIT for what? I had completely forgotten my prayer but after giving it some thought, it hit me. God was telling me to WAIT! His answer was just one word: WAIT!

For me, this was cause for celebration. I thanked him in that moment and said something to the following effect: Lord, I have waited for years but if you say to wait some more, I will do that. You could have said no but I take your WAIT as a yes, just not yet. I am therefore thankful and excited about the future because you plan to give me a spouse, although I don’t know when.

Then, on 02nd February, 2020, I found this poem again while surfing through stuff that I had saved on my flash drive years prior. Wow! I simply must share it. It reads:

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait”.

“Wait? You say, wait! ” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.
And Lord, You promised that if we believe
we need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”

So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
and grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting…. for what?”

He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want
But, you wouldn’t KNOW Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;
You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You’d know that I give and I save…. (for a start),
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.

You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that “My grace is sufficient for Thee.”
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the Loss! If I lost what I’m doing in you!

So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, “WAIT.”

Dear Reader, if you found the above Article to be informative, edifying or interesting, you may also be interested in reading the following under the ‘BIBLE-BELIEVING Daughters of God’ Page:

Note 18 – ‘Riches, Abundance, Breakthrough And Promotion – Lies From The Pit Of Hell’
Note 23 – ‘Jesus – The Source Of Success’
Note 30 – ‘The Price Tag Of Success’

Additional Article under the ‘COURTING OR ENGAGED Daughters of God’ Page: