A Year of Waiting - Enduring

When it comes to waiting, it can be a time of anticipation and expectation, or it can be a time of grueling, determination to not give up. Usually, our waiting times fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

The last time I posted about my word for the year: waiting, it was a look from above as I compared our waiting time to a plane in a holding pattern doing laps around the airport as it waited for a runway to come down on. (See that post here.) A holding pattern is frequently what our lives look like as we wait for answers, wait for jobs, wait for love, and the list goes on. We keep circling the airport, waiting for the chance to finally land, and hoping when we do it will be on the right runway.

Image by Jens from Pixabay

Since that last post on waiting, I have encountered an up close and personal look, once again, at the word endure. Endure was not on my list of similar waiting words, but I was struck this morning by the thought that enduring is a very real, gut level, type of waiting. Let’s look at a few definitions of the word endure.

Intransitive Verb

1 - to continue in the same state

2 - to remain firm under suffering and misfortune without yielding

Transitive Verb

1 - to undergo especially without giving in

2 - to regard with acceptance and tolerance

When we look at the thesaurus we see additional words such as: undergo, experience, go through, encounter, sustain, digest, accept, assimilate, handle, taste, stand for, tough it out, and others. Looking at these words we do not see a passive waiting, but an active, working it out, type of waiting. Like the gentleman above, just hanging around by one arm, waiting, looking as though he has not a care in the world; you can bet he is waiting with endurance as he hangs on for his very life.

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This is the unseen torment of endurance. It is often when others are enduring that no one else knows what they are dealing with. The inner struggles are unseen. The agonizing dark nights are unnoticed. The passage of days grow long, where all that is wanted is for something to change; for something to get better; for someone to come along and give support in the waiting. I do not know why God delays in bringing about relief in these time of enduring, but I do know that He is good, and He is allowing our long travail through the valley of darkness for a purpose.

As Christ followers, most of us are familiar with the following verse.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

— Romans 8:28 (NASB 1995)

I covered this one verse more fully in my Mulling It Over post, where I have been going through the eighth chapter of Romans. Today, I just wanted to reiterate the goodness of our God. We may be waiting in the most dire of circumstances, but He is worthy of our continued allegiance and trust.

We are called to endure. The Bible encourages us repeatedly to not lose hope, the keep up the good fight, to run the race and more.

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“2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

— James 1:2-4 (ESV)

The testing of our faith can produce endurance, or as this version says, steadfastness. Why is steadfastness so important? If we let it have God’s desired effect it makes us perfect and complete, lacking nothing. That’s pretty amazing. Of course we don’t want to go through struggles, but if we can realize the importance of this weighty waiting, we can endure, knowing God will perfect us through it.

A little further along in James we see this reiterated.

“12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ”

— James 1:12 (ESV)

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Girlfriends, we aren’t just going to be made perfect, lacking nothing, we are going to receive a crown of life. That is a promise from God to those who love Him. Whoo, hoo! I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to wearing that crown right up to His heavenly throne, where I will cast it with tears of gratitude at his nail pierced feet.

Let’s look at one more passage on endurance.

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“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

— Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)

These two verses remind us we are not alone in the long wait of endurance. Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, endured the cross. He did it in obedience to the Father, but also for joy. Wait! What? Yes, He did it for joy, the joy of having us with Him; the joy of bringing us into glory with Him; the joy of knowing the fulfillment of everything the Father had put into motion at the beginning of time.

The long wait of endurance is difficult, but in it we are always seen and known by the One who completely gets it.

A Year of Waiting - Holding Pattern

When the idea of doing a deep dive into this concept of waiting tickled my brain, I wrote down a list of different words and phrases that revolve around the concept of waiting. So far I have looked at wait, abide, and pause. Today I want to look at a term used by the airlines.

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When we are flying from one city to another, we often experience delays due to busyness, weather, or other problems, and often the pilot will be told to go into a holding pattern. When in a holding pattern, the pilot will fly an oval course over the airport as they are waiting their turn to land.

This phrase came to my mind as I grew up in a home where airplanes and flying were a pretty regular occurrence. My father was an airplane mechanic, and also had his pilot’s license for a number of years. He ran a small airport where he serviced single engine planes flown mostly for recreation. It was rare to have to enter a holding pattern at that small airport, but the idea still holds true, because great care is taken to not have an accident while flying in the sky.

I wondered, how do I bring the Bible into this idea of a holding pattern and the people of Israel came to my mind. These chosen ones of God were often in a holding pattern. They spent over 400 years in the arms of captivity to the Egyptians. I am sure during that time they were often heard murmuring, “When? When is our deliverer going to come?”

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We know God brought Moses along as that deliverer, and we also know their time of enslavement to the Egyptians was drawing to a close. However, this wasn’t the only time they found themselves in a holding pattern. Some time after they left Egypt they found themselves at the mountain of God: Sinai. It was here Moses received the Ten Commandments, and all the many laws associated with living life.

“1 In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.”

— Exodus 19:1-2 (NASB 1995)

Due to movies like Charlton Heston’s Ten Commandments, we often think their time at Mount Sinai was a mere few days, but in reality it was close to a year. In fact they held a holding pattern in the Wilderness of Sinai for approximately two years. During this time, God not only gave them the Law, but He instructed them on the building of the Tabernacle.

If we spend a little time thinking about these holding patterns the Children of Israel had to endure we can recognize God’s wisdom in the waiting. Their time in Egypt was actually a time of great growth. There was a population explosion among the Israelites. That was precisely why Pharaoh became persistent in keeping them under his thumb.

“8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.
10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”
11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.
13 The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;
14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.”

— Exodus 1:8-14 (NASB 1995)

Their holding pattern in the Wilderness of Sinai was meant to teach the people the necessity of the Law and the Tabernacle as a space for worshipping God. While we now recognize the Law and the Tabernacle as a shadow of God’s future intent, salvation through the perfect lamb of His Son Jesus, it was necessary to remind humanity of the holiness and righteousness of God.

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Are you experiencing a holding pattern in your life right now? Do you feel like an airplane circling over the airport waiting for the go ahead to land? I am right there with you, girlfriends! While this time is difficult, I am trying to remember God’s purposes are beyond what I can comprehend. He knows exactly what other planes (circumstances) are circling around, and how to bring everything safely onto His runway, in His time. While we are waiting, I recommend talking to the co-pilot (Jesus). Get to know Him better. After all, His Father owns the airport!

Have a great weekend, everyone, and fly safe! :)

A Year of Waiting - Pause

If you have been following me since the beginning of this year, I chose the word, wait as my word of the year. After I chose the word, I thought it would be a good idea to devote one Faith post a month to this idea of waiting. In mulling the idea over, I thought it would be interesting to look at different definitions and nuances of the word wait, after all, waiting isn’t just about standing in line to get tickets to see your favorite band, or board your flight. Waiting is a time consuming part of our lives, and I feel it deserves a weightier look. Ha, ha. See what I did there?

Image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay

Let’s look at the definitions for the word pause as given in Webster’s Online Dictionary.

As a noun:

1 - a temporary stop

2 - a - a break in a verse

b - a brief suspension of the voice to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts.

3 - temporary inaction especially as caused by uncertainty: Hesitation

4 - a - the sign denoting a fermata (music related)

b - a mark (such as a period or comma) used in writing or printing to indicate or correspond to a pause of voice

5 - a reason or cause for pausing (as to reconsider)

6 - a function of an electronic device that pauses a recording

As a verb:

Intransitive -

1 - to stop temporarily

2 - to linger for a time

Transitive -

to cause to pause: stop

Let’s pause at the word pause. Ha, ha. I think it would be good to temporarily stop, and hesitate when it comes to considering the word pause; a word we really don’t think much about. We often view a pause as an interruption, but a pause is often necessary to be able to think, take a new direction, or find peace and restoration.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

When my first grandson came along, I became familiar with Time Out’s, a discipline method that is still used by many parents today. The purpose of a Time Out is to allow the child to not only think about what they have done wrong, but give them time to cool down if a situation has become volatile. I think this is a well intended method, and preferable in many ways to a spanking or some other form of physical punishment. I know for my grandson it was fairly effective in curbing misbehavior, though I don’t know for sure what he was thinking about during the Time Out. Ha, ha.

A Time Out is a good way to think of the word pause. It is a time to pull away and think about things. We see that Jesus gave us the same type of example when He would get away by Himself to pray. He paused His busy activities of healing people, teaching his disciples, and making new followers to get away and think, breath and pray.

“36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.””

— Matthew 26:36 (NASB 1995)

“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

— Mark 1:35 (NASB 1995)

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

— Luke 5:16 (NASB 1995)

Image by Sonam Prajapati from Pixabay

While the Bible does not specifically use the word pause as we know and use it, there is the use of a Hebrew term in the book of Psalms and Habakkuk that literally means, think about it. This is the word, Selah.

“Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.”

— Psalm 24:10 (NASB 1995)

“I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

— Psalm 32:5 (NASB 1995)

“The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.”

— Psalm 46:7 (NASB 1995)

“God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.”

— Habakkuk 3:3 (NASB 1995)

The word, Selah is used 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in the book of Habakkuk. Obviously, the Psalmist thought it was important to use this phrase often. He wanted us to think about all that God had done, both the rescuing and the judging because both are very important to remember.

If you find yourself in a time of waiting think about how you can see this as a time to pause. A good idea might be to keep a journal where you can think about why God might have you in a waiting period. You could use journalling as a time to pause from the busyness of life to pray, think, and consider. There are so many reasons God might want you to take a Time Out. These are just a few:

1 - Rest.

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I mentioned this in my initial post in January, Word for 2024: Wait. As women, and Christ followers it is not uncommon to burn ourselves out. We are constantly doing, giving, helping, working; often with little time to catch our breath, let alone do something for ourselves. Let’s face it, we barely even pray for ourselves. We fail to process our emotions, because we are always helping others to carry or process their emotional loads. Even when we lay down at night we run through our to do lists, and before we get up in the still hours of the morning we are praying for all our wandering lambs.

I just turned 60, and I am only beginning to understand this is not really what God wants for us. We are God’s creation. God is the heavy lifter, I am but dust. Perhaps if I became more acquainted with this mighty, omnipotent being I would spend more time relishing the practice of His presence in worship and adoration, rather than trying to solve every problem for everyone we love and care for. God will work it out. He alone is able.

This being said, I know how hard this is. Letting go and actually resting is probably the hardest thing we can do, especially as mothers. It took a major illness to change my way of thinking, and even now I still struggle against this trending current; this current that says you only have value if you are doing and being. However, it was during the time I was down and out that I heard and saw the love and provision of the Lord in a new and deeper way. And, He’s not done yet. I am still learning how to rest, how to take time for myself, how to spend more time with Him, and how to let go of all of the preconceived notions of what gives me value.

2 - To change our thought patterns.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

As used in the book of Psalms, and Habakkuk, taking a moment to think about what the scripture was saying was important enough to include the term, Selah. Perhaps our waiting time is not just about rest, but about changing the way we think, or taking us back to thinking about what is really important.

A time of illness, recovery, or job loss can certainly give you ample opportunity to think. The important thing is that we think about the right things. Am I thinking about my struggles, or am I thinking about God’s goodness? Am I dwelling on my anger, or thinking about God’s provision? Am I tempted to continue in a behavior or a wrong way of thinking, or am I ready for God to bring about change?

The best way to change our thought lives is through regular reading and study of God’s Word, and through the mindset of choosing gratitude and joy.

3 - To change our actions.

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Just like a child being sent into a time out, God will often use times of waiting or times of pause to gently turn us away from bad or unproductive behaviors towards truth in Him which will also cause changes in our actions. As Christ followers we should always be growing and changing to become more like Christ, and that may involve changing many of our fleshly behaviors.

Since I lost my job in 2019, and went through a health crisis in 2021, I have had a lot more time to spend reading, and studying God’s word. I am not a very disciplined person, so I don’t regularly get up in the wee hours of the morning to have my quiet time, but lately, the Lord seems to be waking me up earlier, even when I feel dog tired (and these days that is a regular occurrence) so I can have that time with him. I believe God knows our hearts and our circumstances. If we are open to His work in our lives, He will bring it about.

If you are in a situation right now where you are waiting, consider it a pause. Linger over your Heavenly Father and get to know Him better. This will always help you feel more content while you are waiting.

Have a great day.