June 17, 2010

Waiting Leads to Discouragement

Discouragement, unbelief, fear, and anxiety; these emotions regularly attach themselves to us as we tread the uneven roads of our lives. There are times when things don't make sense and the pressure builds with no sign of reprieve. So, we wait. We wait for our prayers to be answered, for our relationships to heal, for our financial drought to end...we wait. Have you ever noticed that we do a lot of waiting in this life?

We wait in lines and at red lights. We wait for our children to come home from school. We wait for a better time to start our diets and exercise programs because we are just too stressed; we wait. For how long though, how long do we wait? What if we wait our entire lives and never receive the "thing" for which we wait? I don't think the waiting is the bad part, I think the difficult part is how we "feel" while we wait. Do we wait eagerly; excitement oozing from our pores? Do we wait angrily, wondering why "things" take so long? Do we wait in self-pity, wondering why we must wait so long? Are we waiting, with the hope which does not disappoint? Or, are we resentful that we must wait at all?

What I've come to learn about myself recently is that I don't particularly care for delays at. In fact, I'm down right impatient with postponements in general. "I want it now, Daddy . . . I want an oompa loompa now!" And we all know what happened to that spoiled little girl in Charlie's chocolate factory; things didn't go so well for her at all; I don't want to be a Veruca Salt.

Discouragement, the by-product of fruitless waiting, can kill the spirit and spread a pervasive sense of depression over our souls. Discouragement can become a powerful obstacle in our lives; a formidable opponent which can crush our hope and leave us spiraling in doubt and unbelief.

How then are we to wait and, an even greater concern to us is, how are we to wait without succumbing to the deadly power of discouragement? The only defensive weapon which God gave us in our spiritual armor was the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That is our only weapon; the truth of God's Word and His promise to love us and never forsake us. I don't know what you're waiting for today; I don't know what trials you're currently suffering through, but I do know Him who lovingly created you, and even this very second stands over you longing to comfort and console you.

Therefore, God tells us that when we are discouraged, when we are suffering, when things seem so bad that they'll never be right again we are to stand firm, and be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might; not ours.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.(Eph 6:10-17 NASB)