Today’s verse is Psalm 27:14.
14 Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
The Amplified Version says it this way:
14Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.
I have blogged before on waiting with patience and waiting confidently. But I’ve never really noticed this until today. This verse says to wait for God to do what He’s going to do, but it gives us something to do while we wait.
Be brave. Be courageous.
I’ve never seen that before. To me, that means we are to be brave and courageous when we face life. Because what is more uncertain? And what’s scarier? And what is more painful than life?
We are to wait patiently for God. We can’t rush Him. We can’t convince Him to move faster. God has a certain timeline and a specific plan that He’s working out, and we don’t have access to why. We have Scripture which can tell us all about His motivation, but it won’t tell us specifically what He’s doing. Just that it’s good.
What do you do when all you can do is wait?
Be brave as you go to work. Be brave as you go to school. Be brave as you stay home. Be brave as you clean your house or take care of your family or hang out with your friends.
When you’re scared and uncertain, don’t shut down or run away. When you’ve lost everything, keep going. When you’re sad and discouraged, don’t give up hope. And don’t give up on God. And don’t deceive yourself (or let Satan deceive you) that God isn’t doing anything in your life.
God is always working.
Courage has always been defined to me as action in spite of fear. We are to be courageous. We are to act when we are afraid. We are to move when we are uncertain. We are to do when we don’t feel like it.
Waiting is a part of life. And waiting on God is the larger part of a Christian life. Because God has to work out the kinks in us before He lets us continue doing what He’s called us to do.
The hardest part of waiting is not knowing. At least, it’s the hardest part for me. Because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do all the time. And I don’t know where God is going to put me tomorrow. And I don’t know what He’s going to want me to say. And I don’t know if I will always be here or if I will always be on my own or if He’s going to pick me up and move me.
And I’m such a control freak that I have convinced myself that knowing for sure would be better for me. But it wouldn’t be better. By letting God have control of that part of my life, I have to trust Him. And for a control freak, learning how to trust is the most important part of being a Christian.
So I’m waiting.
And even though there are days when I’m afraid, and even though just about every day I face uncertainty, I’m not called to sit around. I’m called to be active. I’m called to do things. I’m called to face the day with courage, not meaning that I shouldn’t be scared. I’m human. I’m going to be afraid of things I don’t understand. But just because I’m afraid doesn’t mean I have to shut down. All it means, is that I have to put my faith in God and trust that He will give me the strength to carry on.
Always Peachy 