WAITING AND WAITING AND WAITING

This incident cannot be told without a bit of background. This is it.

Over the past week, a flood of news, some of it horrid, has come my way. Rolling over me like the "sea billows" in the old song, all of it threatened to capsize my little life. There is bad news and there is news that twists your insides and you can only cry in spurts so that you can try to process the whole thing. Some of the tales I heard were bad news; one was horrid.

Even when the initial horror of hearing lessened, I walked through my days with a giant boulder on my back. I was emotionally stooped. I found myself groaning whenever it came to mind. My chest literally ached for the dear friends who had suffered...and were suffering.

My own trials were not going away either. Although they seemed tiny compared to the pain of my friends, they added to my spiritual trauma. Never did I lose sight of the face of God. I knew I had to keep close to Him or I would faint and falter. I wept in my car and continued to weep over the next days, but my tears were accompanied by prayers of the deepest sort for my friends and for myself.

Four days later, not able to shake the despair...my own and that of my friends...I approached my nightly meeting with the Lord with a large hole in my spirit and a black cloud over my head. As I lay before Him, I was silent. I didn't know what to say except this: "Lord, I must hear from you tonight. Please give me something from your Word."

I read and then, frustrated, prayed again, my face buried in the carpet. I was restless. I read more and searched through the verses that I have underlined on other such occasions. I prayed. I waited. I prayed down my prayer list. And I waited. My heart was burning with longing to hear words of strength and hope from the Lord.

It was then my eye fell upon a verse underlined in red all by itself on the page. I sprawled out on the floor once again, my Bible open. God had brought me to that spot, I know. It was exactly what I needed.

2 Chronicles 32:7-9 (ESV) "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria (the enemy) and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

The enemy had taken me by storm, swiftly knocking the feet out from under me. The grief that I felt...and still feel...for my friends bowed me down to the ground. Satan had struck in their lives. I am fully aware that he is attacking me and mine. But now, even though I already knew it, the Word being alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, these words of King Hezekiah at the onset of his encounter with Sennacherib made my spirit soar like an eagle! With us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles!

I'm so glad that I waited for Him. I could have climbed into bed in a heap. Instead, He came near to me.