For Such A Time As This - Wait!

So they told Mordecai Esther’s words. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.  For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. – Esther 4:12-17

I find it manly to read the book of Esther. I think that it's because it has so much to teach me that I know is foreign to my personality. And, as I got to the end I had a revelation. Here it is: Even though what happened in the three days between chapters 4 and 5 is not recorded, (read chapters 4 and 5 to understand the importance of what I am saying.) don't think for a moment that God had just sort of taken a break. Because He is the God of the Universe it is possible that we might think that His time, busy with other things, was simply in a sort of out of sight/out of mind kind of state.

When we think about God we have much to remember.

Like this…Remember, He may be invisible, but He is at work. He is invisible and just because we cannot see Him working does not mean He somehow puts our lives on that back burner. I rather think that's the beauty of His invisibility. He can be moving in thousands of places at the same time, working in circumstances that are beyond our control but not just ours but in the lives of millions, literally, millions of other people He loves fully.

It’s a big job remembering that. But, work on it. It shows progress in your relationship with God as your Father.

For you and I, during a waiting period, God is not only working in our hearts, He's working in others' hearts and in our minds and in the minds of others as well. And all the while He is strengthening the lives of all of those who name Jesus as Lord. Remember Isaiah's words about waiting?

Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. - Isaiah 40:31

Even though the prophet's pen put these words on the sacred page centuries ago, that verse of Scripture is as pertinent and relevant as what you read in the paper this morning. More than this they are far more trustworthy and eternally more useful to you and me. From this verse we learn that four things happen when we wait.

First, we gain new strength. We may feel weak, even intimidated, when we turn to our Lord. While waiting, amazingly we exchange our weakness for His strength. Just know waiting is both required and imperative.

Second, we get a better perspective. It says we "will mount up with wings like eagles." Eagles can spot fish in a lake several miles away on a clear day. By soaring like eagles while waiting, we gain perspective on our situation. We gain God’s perspective – His line of sight.

Third, we store up extra energy. "We will run and not get tired." That is future tense and it means resting today means the ability to run without fatigue later. When we do encounter the thing we have been dreading, we will encounter it with new strength - extra energy is ours!

Fourth, we will deepen our determination to persevere. We "will walk and not become weary." The Lord whispers reassurance to us. Our spiritual and emotional backbones become like titanium! We begin to partake, take on His power and with His assurance for the task at hand justifiably feel  more invincible.

We'll gain new strength. We'll get a better perspective. We'll store up extra energy. We'll deepen our determination to persevere. All that happens when we . . . wait. Fight like a girl named Esther! Pray! Fast! Fellowship! Wait!

I remain…

InHISGrip,
  ~J~

Yesterday? Tomorrow? Today! - Live On!!!

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” – James, brother of Jesus (James 4:13-15)

I once read Chuck Swindoll say these words, “Snap a telescopic lens on your perspective for the next few minutes. Pull yourself up close . . . close enough to see the real you. From the reflection in your mental mirror, pay close attention to your life. Try your best to examine the inner "you" on the basis of time.” We need to be able to look back on our life. We need to look at our present. We then need to conjecture, based on our current spiritual state, mental state and life disposition that our future might be.

I’m asking you, as did Chuck, to look both back and forward. It is hard. It is hard primarily because we can’t look either back or forward without considering them from our current life situation.

Looking Back. I have found what seems from my narrow and subjective (as well as small sample set) analysis that if you are over 50 years of age you will come to one conclusion that seems universal: LIFE IS SHORT. I think however this is Biblical.

On your own read through Psalm 90 and you will conclude it is loaded with messages relating to the brevity of life. Life is short . . . like yesterday when it passes by . . . as a watch in the night . . . like grass, it sprouts and withers . . . like a sigh, soon it is gone.

If you aren’t feeling it now you will – Yes and amen…Life is short.

Looking Ahead. If you look back on your life and scratch your head and think to yourself, “How did I get here?” you will conclude about the future one overriding theme: LIFE IS UNCERTAIN AND THEREFORE WILL BE UNCERTAIN. “Unexpected." Could be the overarching adjective placed on most all of our future experiences.

Unexpected:

•         Surgery
•         Transfer
•         Accomplishment
•         Loss
•         Benefit
•         Sickness
•        Promotion/demotion
•        Gift
•        Death

·      (Fill in the blank)                                                                   

Guys, our lives are truly uncertain.

We’re left to come back to the nasty now and now. How should we view our “today?”

There are lots of ways to look at life. I prefer the power of God and the realization life is to be lived or feared and therefore since God does not give us fear (2 Timothy 1:7) these are 4 powerful words: LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE! They don’t contradict our behind and forward lessons. Nor do they require us to be Polly-Anna types with rose-colored glasses. But, may I also point out they don’t leave us hopeless and forlorn. For as we look at the present, we discover: LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE!

Since life is short it needs to be viewed as jam-packed with challenging possibilities and mysterious twists and turns. Because it’s uncertain, it's filled with rigorous nuance and the ability to make “on the fly” adjustments. I'm convinced that's much of what Jesus meant when He promised us an abundant life (Gospel of John 10:8-10). We should expect our lives to be abundant with challenges, both positive and negative but also running over with possibilities. We need to see from a position of “the heavenlies” that our lives are filled with opportunities to adapt, shift, alter, and change. Come to think of it, that's the secret of staying young. It is also the path that leads to changing the world for the Kingdom of God.

With each new dawn, life delivers a package to your front door. In the Spirit-filled life you answer that life full of the Power and Potential of God! When you hear that ring tomorrow morning, try something new; have Christ in you answer the door for you.

Life's most challenging opportunities are often deceptively disguised as unsolvable problems. But when the powerful King of the Universe is in charge of problems, challenges… the impossible then huge and massive and amazing and beautiful life, health, power, grace, goodness, mercy and abundance happens! Expect it!

Oh! Once last thing…James didn’t mean to say, “If the Lord wills (which we cannot possibly know or understand) we shall do this (unknowable thing) or that (other unknowable thing). No, it means, “The Lord showed me this specific thing to do and this other specific thing and therefore I will do those things.” Apparently James wasn’t a Baptist! J

I remain…

InHISGrip,
  ~J~