The Waiting

Tonight I sit in bed, my personal space --  the usual place I wait on the Lord to come upon His presence and enter His holy courts. The only place I feel safe, humbled, overflowing with joy and peace that truly "transcends all understanding" (Phil. 4:7). That moment of solitude I believe, along with the Spirit's conviction, makes up the fine meat of our Christian faith. While reconciliation to the Most High is granted as we first receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, a deeper relationship on the other hand is acquired with intimate prayer and meditation as the common ground. But what if, just what if... It becomes the hardest thing to do?

It is unlikely to sit on this bed like tonight, which is always my spot of holy reverie, and feel not  a tinge of the Spirit. Where is the breeze? Where is the gentle touches of comfort? The feeble whispers of wisdom and understanding? Not to be found. Thirty minutes passes, still waiting. Forty-five minutes and I'm switching tracks and worship playlists. An hour passes and here comes a bunch of "maybe's" as to where the presence could be; maybe overthrown by my physical senses, maybe replaced by my earthly concerns, maybe stolen by other forces and principalities. Another hour passes and here comes a realization that I am reading blankly, saying empty words and singing empty songs. As my last attempt (and in frustration), I pull out the "Streams In The Desert" devotional novel from a pile of Christian books hoping, 'a devotional reading will make up for it' and my King meets me in surprise like always. Out of the book bolts up the reading for the day;

October 5

Some time later the brook dried up. (1 Kings 17:7)

'Streams in the Desert' devotional reading for tonight.

This is a familiar scenario for any long-committed Christian isn't it? When the brook which brings spiritual refreshment simply "dries up" out of nowhere. We often refer to it as "dry seasons" or "dry moments". I wasn't able to understand the extent of this Christian faith phenomena until I get to experience it myself. So as a testimony, when the elders say to the young in faith something like "some time in your journey, you will experience a dry season", they sure mean it for real (and I want to extend some 'LOL' but also earnestness to this part). To sum it up, we bear the intensity upon going through the experience yet we realize its depth upon emerging from it. We realize how it positively impacts our character and how it generates remarkable growth to our faith.

It is true that yes, Elijah sat deep in thought as he wrestle over his discouragements of the dwindling brook at the Kerith, and yes, we too will at times sit in desperation of why we feel as dry and deserted at this brook -- But just as Elijah was given enlightenment afterwards of why he needed to live by faith in such a horrid place for a span of time, we too will soon receive our dose of revival. 

F.B Meyer has inspiring thoughts on this:

"The education of our faith is incomplete if we have yet to learn that God's providence works through loss, that there is a ministry to us through failure and the fading of things, and that He gives the gift of emptiness."

So dryness is not to stop us from waiting. We continue to wait in a hope that we will be soon refreshed. For the Scripture says never will He leave us and never will He forsake us (Heb 13:5). Who seems like an absent God at the moment is actually a present God forevermore. We are not any less visible to Him even if He seems to be a bit (or a whole lot) hidden to us. The Scripture says:

"When you pass through the waters, 

I will be with you; 

and when you pass through the rivers, 

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, 

you will not burn;

the fire will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord your God, 

the Holy one of Israel, your Savior..."

-Isaiah 42:2-3a

We keep still and embrace the art of waiting throughout this critical season for it is how God has settled things to be, as it is said, "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven" (Ecc. 3:1). After all, it is in dryness where we thirst the most and in emptiness that we greatly yearn to be filled. 

"O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly, 

my soul thirsts for You, my flesh years for You, 

in a dry and weary land where there is no water." -Psalm 53:1

*All Bible references are taken from the New International Version

Image-3 Source: Faith Grace Motherhood