"Waiting Gracefully"--Worship While Waiting

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.”

Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

Waiting for God's Promise(s) to come into your life is hard, especially when we live in a "microwave" society of wanting what we want and when we want it. It's even when we are doing everything we think is right (praying, speaking God's Word, living by faith, having hope in God, etc.) and we FEEL as though nothing is happening in our favor. But we can be assured God does hear our prayers, and He is working out the answers even though we may not know all the details.  Be encouraged to know that God can change your situation suddenly and quickly without warning.   One thing I have learned for certain is that before God moves suddenly, we WILL wait.  Waiting for answers is a fact of life.  So the question is not if we will wait, but rather how we will wait, and I believe how we wait can determine how long we wait.  Let me repeat...I believe that how we wait can determine how long we wait.  So the question is, how are you waiting?  Are you grumbling, complaining, worried and anxious?  Or are you trusting God is working everything out in your favor and you are expressing it by worshiping and praising Him? Any infertile Christian woman can probably tell you the heartbreaking story of the barren woman named Hannah found in 1 Samuel.  For most of my "infertile life" I have always concentrated and remembered the details of her agony...how she prayed...how she cried...how she was so downcast and refused to eat; but I never noticed until recently how she reacted when she had the revelation that a child was coming.  She didn't know any details of when it would happen but she made it a point to trust in the promise given to her and worship the Lord while she waited.

Let’s look at the story of Hannah...

1 Samuel 1:9-20 (NIV)

⁹ Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. ¹⁰ In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.

¹¹ And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹² As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk ¹⁴ and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵ “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷ Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸ She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

¹⁹ Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Hannah knew how to wait and wait well.  Once Hannah received the promise that God had heard her cries and she would receive what she so desperately longed for she was no longer downcast.  This really made me think about how often I go through my day with self-pity and feeling downcast even though God has promised me through His Word that I am healed and fruitful.  I can't imagine what it must feel like if I promised my child something he/she really wanted and then they turned around and as was still sad because they didn't believe me...this is how God must feel.  

I also love how Hannah CHOSE to worship the Lord even though her circumstances were still the same (still childless and without physical proof she would receive a child)--all she had was hope and a promise.

"…worship is not a feeling. Worship is a choice, a step of obedience taken without the assurance of a changed circumstance or the elimination of a trial. Worshiping focuses on God, not the circumstance, and fixes its gaze upon God's truth and God's character instead of the trial at hand or just ahead."

Thanking God before you can “see” what you are hoping for shows complete trust in His character, love, and faithfulness and Hannah knew this. In today’s society we are often saying, “I will believe it when I see it”.  But this is not how God operates.  He wants you to expect it and believe you have received it with your spiritual eyes BEFORE you can see it with your natural eyes.  I once read that faith is the currency for what we want from God.  Without it we may never inherit the promises from God.  So despite the fact your natural circumstances say you are NOT healed—thank him anyway.  This may feel silly but it demonstrates true faith.

• 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV) says, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” 

•  2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV) says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
  I  encourage you today to learn from Hannah and lift your head up and thank Him now for what you are hoping for. 

Examples:

• Thank you I am healed and made whole
• Thank you I am fruitful
• Thank you for (insert child’s name)
• Thank you for a healthy baby
• Thank you for no complications during labor/delivery

For our HOPE meeting tonight we made "thank you" cards to God and thanked Him in ADVANCE for what we are hoping for.  We put them in protective sleeves that have magnets on the other side so that we can put them on our refrigerator as a constant reminder to thank God for His blessings now.  I am thanking God for Josiah and Tenlee (I hope to have a boy and girl), a perfect pregnancy, perfect eggs (no abnormal chromosomes), and consistent perfect 28 day cycles. 

B