California wildfires are raging. The pictures are frightening. People are dying. People are fleeing. People are losing everything of material value. Most of these wildfires were started by man. Will there be any real justice in this situation?
“Like adding gasoline to the roaring fire,” is a phrase I have read/heard more than a few times in recent days. No tears will put out this inferno, no fire extinguishing reason to be found, no fire brigade coming to smother this arsonist ignited blaze, only black smoke, acrid smells of painful, vomited words, and the devastating sounds of crashing hopes and dreams, and decades of unanswered prayer. Like I felt standing outside my in laws home as it burned to the ground, all anyone can do now is watch in horror as hopes crumble and life falls apart. Everything appears lost…………
“WHY?!?!”
The heart screams. “Lord, PLEASE…….” Not even knowing what to pray, the broken soul wearily cries out: Eyes brim and spill, and posture slumps–heads hanging, backs bent over, legs folded into a heap. Hope fades into blackness. The voice falls silent.
Then, in the space of spent emotion and surrender comes a whisper: “I AM not done.” His very name, I AM, is the reminder of WHO is in control here! He is at work. All that is seen is not all there is going on in this moment of time. Immanuel, God is with us. All God is, is wrapped up in I AM.
Slowly a head begins to lift. Eyes, now washed clear, begin to look past the here and now, and a quieted heart recalls the promise(s) made so very long ago. Abraham and Sarah, Noah, Joseph, and other Old Testament saints, Mary and Joseph, Mary Magdalene, Paul, and John all WAITED for the Promise. All had FAITH in Yahweh. (Hebrews 11)
While I Wait by Lincoln Brewster
Wait, in Hebrew, is qavah and this word has a literal and a figurative meaning. The literal meaning is “to bind like a chord” as in twisting a rope from individual strands into a weighty, strong length because there is strength in numbers. The figurative meaning is “to anticipate.” Strong’s #6960 states qavah is an active verb and expresses the “tension of enduring.”
The most quoted wait Scripture is Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Waiting here is an active verb and both the literal and figurative meanings can certainly be felt. In waiting, we are twisted into strength and we anticipate a positive outcome from our struggle. Shall says it is to come in the future.
During times of waiting, prayer is a twisting of our hearts before the LORD. It is time the LORD uses to forge thin strands of fiber into cords of rope, and finally the slow, steady heat of life’s fires forges what should have burned up into cables of pure, stainless steel.
The residents of California can only watch and pray as the raging inferno marches toward them. They are at the mercy of the wind, temperature, and how much tinder is available. They are aware they need a miracle of rain to cool the flames, soak the brush, and snuff out the flames.
The TV news will go from showing the frightening onslaught of the force of nature’s way of clearing debris to only reporting the mudslides, the next catastrophe. No mention will be made of all the new growth, renewed forests, and beauty which will certainly arise. We all tend to focus on what is being torn down, instead of looking for the new life springing up because the dead was choking out light and preventing water from reaching the soil.
Romans 8:28 is the other most often quoted Scripture when time is hard: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
In both these two beloved verses of God’s Word do not miss the focus: THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! Waiting on the Lord and loving God are the requirements. It is all about HIs purpose, His plan, His work.
One day all this we know will be swept away and He will make all things new. II Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be dissolved in the fire, and the earth and its works will not be found.” And the Prophet Isaiah reminds us of God’s promise to those who love Him, ““For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “so your descendants and your name will endure.” Isaiah 66:22. Even our very lives and all we have done will be tried by fire: “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” I Corinthians 3:13
What will we do while we wait? This is the time to decide. Our plan of escape is to determine now by how we will wait, Our waiting well is in our preparation. ….………but all will certainly not be lost. Amid the ruins of the destruction by fire, treasures will be found!
Lord, thank you for the fire of waiting. Thank you for tarrying in your return for it is Your mercy and grace. Father, be with all those affected by the monster wildfires sweeping through the western US and give strength and wisdom to those risking their very lives to fight the battle and minimize losses. Comfort those who have experienced devastating loss as only You as our heavenly Father can. Reveal to us how we may be Your hands and feet and heart to those waiting on You. Forge steel Faith out of strands of fear and doubt. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
Yvonne H. Jones
