“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, a refuge on the day of distress, Taking care of those who look to him for protection.”
Nahum 1:7 (NAB)
Lately, I am learning how much of trust is rooted in waiting for God, since most of what we are trusting Him for, doesn’t happen immediately.
While we find shelter in Him, in the day of our distress, we start to become familiar with His voice, and to recognize it in our waiting phase, which is a priceless gift.
Trusting God means not taking matters in our own hands, even if other people don’t seem to be doing their job, or when the waiting period seems longer than expected.
Sarah was given the promise of a child by God, but over the years of waiting, she lost all trust in that promise. She took the matter into her own hands, and decided to give her maidservant, Hagar, to Abraham, her husband, and then claim her child as her own. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael and Sarah considered him her own son, until God fulfilled His promise to Sarah.
He gave Sarah and Abraham their own son, Isaac, and then a constant feud developed between the two sons, between the son of Hagar and the son of Sarah. Hagar’s son, Ishmael, is the patriarch of all Arabic people. Sarah’s son, Isaac, is the patriarch of Israel and all Jewish people. We can still see that feuding which persists today, beginning over 2,000 years B.C., and it all started when Sarah stopped trusting in God’s promise, and took matters into her own hands.
I’m not criticizing Sarah, and can totally identify with the urge to take matters in one’s own hands, especially Type A personalities like mine. One of the most difficult things is to trust God, in the waiting, but life brings many opportunities to learn to trust Him, and as we wait, He helps us to finally get it right.
During their waiting period, God was good to Sarah and Abraham, giving them a son of their own, in their old age, and creating a nation from him. God honored Abraham’s steadfast faith during that waiting period. It’s good to know that God works patiently with all of our weaknesses and shortcomings, just as He did with Sarah’s. He knows our gifts, our personalities, our fears as well as our failures. God still loves us in spite of the bad decisions we make, all because He is good and He is the Lord of many chances.
Trusting God means believing He will prompt the right people to do the right thing at the right time, because we have asked and trust Him to. Trusting God is knowing we do not need to micromanage and oversee everyone and everything, like Sarah did. There is a freedom in trusting that our request is heard as we rest in God’s promises, which will be fulfilled in His own timing.
Trusting God also means making Him our place of refuge, the shelter we run to, and we don’t need to panic over looming dangers or urgent needs. We have been given strengths, but our refuge place is not within our own strengths, but within God’s.
What do people do inside of a shelter? They do nothing except to be still, pray and wait.
Last weekend I spoke to my friend Larry, who lives in Israel, who has been frequenting his local bomb shelter whenever the sirens sound. While inside the shelters, they just stay still and wait. He told me that Israeli citizens receive an all clear on their cell phones when it’s safe to leave the shelter, but now most Israelis know when all is clear, by listening for a particular sound. There’s a familiar boom sound, made by the Iron Dome defense system as it intercepts the rockets fired. Once they hear that familiar boom sound from within the shelter, they exit without fear, in confidence that all is safe.
God is good to those who wait, and the more we shelter ourselves in Him, the more we become familiar to the voice of His Spirit, comforting us and guiding us as we take refuge in Him.
As the Israeli citizens can discern the positive sound that signals a rocket has been destroyed, so God is our refuge in the day of our distress, and we learn to discern the familiar sound of His voice. It’s not an audible sound, but a sound within our hearts, that allows us to move forward with confidence, without fear, in spite of dealing with serious troubles. God is our refuge, He shelters and protects us, as we remain still and wait, because we know that He is the Lord of perfect timing.
Some days are more distress-filled than others, but God wants to show us His goodness every day. Trusting God simply means pausing in the moment, and asking for His help, direction or wisdom. He sends us help and sometimes we hear His voice through others.
I need to constantly shelter myself in Him and listen for His familiar voice to lead me in the many new areas of responsibility I have as the legal guardian of a disabled adult son. One thing I know, Jesus walks through it with me in the day of my distress, and He does the same for everyone who has made Him their refuge and shelter.
Lord, help us to wait in peaceful stillness as we take shelter in you. Remove all our anxiety and show us your goodness in the waiting phases. Jesus, we invest all our trust in you, who spared nothing to save us, revealing through your cross, how much you love us. Amen